


From Heaven to Soul

by callalily_flower



Category: Day6 (Band), GOT7, Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 'just name drop every artist in jype its fine', Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Background Relationships, JYP ensemble - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, but only the important members are tagged, but there's gonna be a fic for everyone it's just gonna take a while, it's not bc i want to do everyone regardless of whether i know enough abt them or not, p much everyone in the groups are mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 00:32:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17436452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callalily_flower/pseuds/callalily_flower
Summary: If Dowoon hadn't tried to be friendly and meet the new neighbors he wouldn't have this problem.But he would still be in allergy hell so maybe meeting the neighbors wasn't a terrible choice.





	From Heaven to Soul

**Author's Note:**

> oof i know how summaries work but i don't know anything about tattoo apprenticeships or flowers we just made it up as we went
> 
> i didn't mean to make it this long it just suddenly happened and i'm not ashamed

Dowoon sneezed violently, almost dropping the vase he was carrying. Why did he ever agree to help Wonpil in his flower shop when he was allergic to almost every type of pollen under the sun.

“Hey!” Wonpil yells at him from where he is at the register, closing out the last transaction he just ran, “That’s one of the arrangements that’s getting picked up today, so be careful,”

“I don’t know why you want me carrying these vases of flowers when I’m allergic to everything in this shop,” Dowoon mutters under his breath. Wonpil manages to hear him and if Dowoon weren’t carrying the vase, he would be a dead man.

“Fine,” Wonpil throws his hands into the air, “Put that down and go get some allergy medicine,”

“Already took some this morning,”

“Then go get coffee or something to get you out of this shop for a bit,” Wonpil turns back to the till and observes the front end of the shop, “I’ll be fine for a bit, but be back by 10:45. I don’t think I can run it alone for the 11 o’clock rush,”

Dowoon checks his phone as he walks out, 9:50, giving him a little under an hour. He couldn’t go very far but anywhere would be better than the shop full of pollen.

He checks the street before making a run for the café across the street. The coffee smell helps work against his allergies if only minutely.

“Dowoon!” Jackson calls excitedly, “Already escaped allergy hell?”

“Just for the hour, hyung, but I’ll take what I can get,” Dowoon hands over the money for his drink that Jackson is already handing a cup to Jimin for.

Jimin hands him his drink at the other end of the counter, giving him a small smile and returning to start the next drink. Dowoon takes his coffee to the corner table near the window he favors.

Dowoon squints across the street, the building next to Wonpil’s shop has been empty since the last lease for a music store ended and Junhyeok didn’t renew but moved home to join his family.

That was almost 4 months ago, and the building has been empty since then until now apparently as two men are moving boxes off a truck while a third unlocks the front door and props it open, so boxes can be moved inside. It’s only 10:03, so Dowoon finishes his drink and waves to Jackson and Jimin before leaving the café and again running across the street. Wonpil says he’s gonna get hit by a car eventually but Wonpil tells stories of dancing with death in high school so he doesn’t seem like a credible source.

The building is still dark, so Dowoon knocks on the door frame, “Hello?” Normally he wouldn’t be this friendly, but a new neighbor isn’t something that happens every day and Wonpil might actively try to kill him if he didn’t come back with more information than the fact that there were new people next door.

One of the men is rummaging through a box with his back to the door but turns around immediately at Dowoon’s voice. Dowoon points to his right, “I work next door at Sprout of Heaven and just saw you moving in and thought I would introduce myself,” The man is approaching him and with the shadows he looks intimidating but as he approaches the well-lit sidewalk, Dowoon sees that he isn’t much taller than himself and the light makes his face seem less harsh as well. “Yoon Dowoon,” He introduces himself.

“Park Jinyoung,” He looks around the shop, “I’m not actually going to be the owner of the shop, that’s gonna be Brian-hyung, Sungjin-hyung and I aren’t even going to be working here, we’re just helping him move in while his actual employees are busy,”

“I don’t own Sprout of Heaven,” Dowoon quickly corrects, “The owner is my friend and he roped me into working there ‘until he found a part-timer’ but I don’t think he’s even looking,”

One of the other men comes out of the back room, “Brian says if everything is out of the truck we’re good to go if we can return it for him,” He stops short when he sees Dowoon.

Jinyoung quickly speaks up, “This is Yoon Dowoon, he works at Sprout of Heaven next door,”

“Ah, Park Sungjin,” he introduces himself. Jinyoung waves Sungjin over while yelling towards the room he had just exited, “Hyung! We’ll be leaving to take the truck back! Your neighbor is here!”

Distinct crashing is heard from the room and the third man appears, his hair is a grayish blond color, kept off his forehead by a bandana. “Yo, thanks guys, I owe you one,”

Sungjin snorts, “You owe me at least five from all the help I’ve given you,”

Jinyoung nods, “I’m up to at least four unused favors,”

Brian seems to glare, “Well if you would use your favors I wouldn’t owe you so much,” The glare leaves his face and before the two are out the door he calls out to them, “If you see Jaebum, Bambam or Yugyeom hit them for me, I can’t believe they all just “happened” to be busy today,”

Jinyoung waves over his shoulder in acknowledgement and Sungjin waves to Dowoon and Brian before he jogs to catch up to Jinyoung.

Brian finally seems to see Dowoon, “Ah, you must be my neighbor. Kang Younghyun but everyone calls me Brian,”

“Yoon Dowoon,” Dowoon introduces himself once more.

“I guess we’ll see a lot of each other, being neighbors and all,” Brian chuckles, smile breaking his face. 

Dowoon is lost for words, Brian’s face lighting up with his smile.

 _Fuck, he’s gorgeous,_ Dowoon shakes his head, _Focus, Dowoon, you don’t even know if he’s gay._ “Did you need any help?”

Brian looks around the room, furniture in a cluster in the middle of the room with various boxes open all over the room. “That would be nice, but won’t you have to be going back to…?” A look of confusion crosses his face.

Dowoon realizes he never said which neighbor he was, “Ah, Sprout of Heaven, the flower shop. And I don’t actually own it, I just help my friend out,”

“Then let’s get some furniture moved,” Brian claps, the smile back on his face.

As the room comes more into order, Brian and Dowoon make small conversation and it’s when they are setting the counter section down in place that Dowoon’s phone rings.

“Dowoon, where are you?! I need your help!” Wonpil’s desperate voice calls out.

“I’m on my way, hyung,” is all Dowoon gets out before Wonpil cuts off the call, probably swamped with customers. He checks the time, 10:56, and groans. “Guess I need to head back,”

“Not a fan of customer service?” Brian asks, small smile on his face.

“How about allergic to every pollen under the sun?” Dowoon responds, “But duty calls. It was nice to meet you Brian-ssi and I’m sure Wonpil-hyung will try to get over here to meet you by the end of the day, if not after this rush,”

“Good luck,” Brian calls as the door closes behind Dowoon.

When Dowoon walks through the door of Sprout of Heaven, there are more people than Dowoon has ever seen in the little shop. He fights his way back to the register, fighting the itch of his nose. Relief floods Wonpil’s face when he sees Dowoon, “Here, run the register, your allergies should be the best here.” As soon as Dowoon is in place, Wonpil disappears, probably filling orders or answering questions. 

When the shop is finally empty of everyone but Wonpil, Dowoon and the flowers, does Dowoon really feel his allergies hit. “This is it for me hyung, it was nice knowing you except for you trying to kill me slowly with my allergies,”

Wonpil hits the back of Dowoon’s head, “You drama queen, are you taking lessons from Jackson?” He sets to straightening everything out and taking stock of which need to be refilled. “Why were you so late? I know you try to avoid the shop as much as possible because breathing is nice, but you’re usually back on time,”

Dowoon straightens up, “Oh, we have a neighbor in Junhyeok-hyung’s old store. I was helping him move furniture,”

Wonpil whirls on Dowoon, “We have a neighbor?!” in the next second Wonpil is running out the door, “I’ll be back! Watch the store!”

Dowoon sighs and leans on his elbows on the counter, “Sure, hyung,” he mumbles to himself. He pulls out his phone, refreshing his social media before starting a round of solitaire. He’s almost won when the bell above the door rings. “Finally, hyung, what took-?” Dowoon cuts off as he looks up, seeing not Wonpil but a customer. _Shit,_ “How can I help you?” _Please don’t need an arrangement._

“I need the most interesting, non-romantic flower you can get me,” The customer is taller than him, but he’s gangly.

 _You can do this Yoon Dowoon, hyung talks flower at you all the time,_ “Well, I’m not actually the owner so I’m not sure about the non-romantic part,” Dowoon is circling around the counter, Wonpil always rants about orchids not wanting to be flowers so that has to be a good one. Plus, they were the most interesting flowers, “But this is my favorite flower and I hate flowers, it’s called the Naked Man Orchid,”

“Okay I don’t even need to see the flower that has to be it,” Dowoon’s eyes are watering as he sorts through the orchids looking for the one he wanted. He finally finds it, but it’s in the very back and he can’t take much more.

“It’s those ones in the back, if you could grab them,” he points them out and steps back.

“I guess...” Once the man has one of them he turns back to Dowoon, “Woah, dude, are you okay?” 

“Yeah, just allergic to pretty much everything in this store,” He sneezes, “But that’s not the only great one. I think the other one is nearby,” Dowoon wants to wipe his eyes but knows that the pollen on his hands won’t help anything so he just blinks, hoping to clear his eyes.

Thankfully the other flower is also an orchid and bright red, making it easier to find. “The bright red one,” Dowoon points, “It’s called Hooker’s Lips Orchid.”

The man snorts, “Wow yeah, this is what he needs,” the man grabs one of the Hooker’s Lips and turns to Dowoon, “How much for these?”

Dowoon gestures towards the register, “Let’s see,” Wonpil had made sure Dowoon knew the locations of everything on the register, so even when he couldn’t see the keys he would know where to hit and the customer can see the total pop up on their side.

“Can you see though?” the man jokes.

The combination of his watery and itchy eyes made it only slightly less uncomfortable to keep his eyes closed, “Not really but my friend made sure I had every key on this thing memorized,” Dowoon wheezes out, proper breathing starting to go too.

The man hands over his cash, chuckling, “I hope you’re well compensated because this seems awful for you…”

“Dowoon. Yoon Dowoon,” he doesn’t bow but the man doesn’t seem to hold it against him. 

“Park Jaehyung. It was nice to meet you and I’ll come here for all my Hooker’s Lips and Naked Man Orchid needs,”

Dowoon thanks him and he hears the bell ding again as the man leaves. It can’t have been much longer before the bell rings one more time and Wonpil is yelling, “Dowoonie! Did you sell those orchids?! I’m so proud of you!” He must round the flower displays, “Oh god! Here, come on!” Dowoon’s wrist is grabbed and he feels Wonpil lead him somewhere.

The bell dings and apparently, they’re outside. Wonpil drags him down the sidewalk and suddenly it’s cooler and a little darker, “Hyung can you look after Dowoonie?! Everything in my shop is covered in pollen and won’t help any!”

Dowoon wracks his brain, who could it be that Wonpil is bringing him to? Jackson, but they weren’t outside long enough to reach the café. Taecyeon and Nichkhun-hyung’s had a bookstore next door so it could be them. Or Junho-hyung on the other side of Junhyeok’s old store owned a salon, but again they weren’t outside long enough to get there.

“Sure,” Dowoon recognized that voice, “Oh, god, Jae grab one of my rags and get it wet,”

“Aren’t those gross though, hyung?”

“No, I washed them before I packed them. I’m not Jaebum,”

Ah it was Brian. Jae must have been buying congratulatory flowers for him. “We’ll take care of him Wonpil, go take care of your store,”

There’s a cool cloth on Dowoon’s eyes and then on his arms and hands. Once he’s confident in his hands being clean, he rubs at his eyes. It doesn’t really help but it doesn’t make it worse so that’s all he needs at this point. When he opens his eyes, Brian is right in front of him, cloth in hand, and Jae is looking over his shoulder. “You okay?”

Dowoon blinks a few times, “I’m getting there,”

“As soon as I walked in with the flowers, Wonpil was running out,” Jae says. 

Dowoon opens his mouth but is cut off by someone crashing through the doorway, “What’s wrong with my baby Dowoon?”

Jae and Brian stare at Jackson in shock, “It’s nothing, hyung,”

Jackson snorts, “’It’s nothing, hyung,’” he mocks, “Wonpil ran out of this shop into his own and less than 10 seconds later was running out pulling you. I think that amounts to more than nothing,”

“Wonpil-hyung was right, I should be taking drama queen classes from you,” Dowoon mutters, but Jackson still manages to hear and knocks him over the head. “It’s nothing hyung, I’m fine,”

Jackson looks skeptical, but he lets the issue drop, suddenly noticing the other two men in the room. “Woah, sorry,” he bows, “I’m Wang Jackson,”

Jae and Brian bow in return and introduce themselves. Jackson opens his mouth to ask something but is cut off by his phone blaring out with an incoming call. Dowoon is a good two meters away from him but he can still distinctly hear Jimin yelling at Jackson over the phone.

“Jackson you get your ass back over here before I call your boyfriend up!”

“You’re bluffing, you wouldn’t do that,” he chuckles nervously. “Right?”

“Do you really want to test that theory?”

“Right, I’ll be right there,” and he hangs up before Jimin can get anything else in, “Well, I value my life so I’m gonna get going,” He points to Dowoon, “You tell Wonpil I’m gonna have words with him,”

Brian and Jae stare blankly where Jackson was just standing. Jae is the one who finally breaks the silence, “Whoever was on the phone sounded terrifying. Is his boyfriend scarier than her?”

A smile splits Dowoon’s face, “Nah, Mark-hyung is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Jackson is just whipped for his boyfriend and doesn’t want Jimin complaining to him. You are right though, Jimin is terrifying when she wants to be,”

Dowoon finally gets a chance to look around the shop now that it’s set up, and he realizes he still doesn’t know what Brian does. He opens his mouth to ask, only to be cut off by Brian, “I’m a tattoo artist,” Dowoon blinks in surprise, “What, not what you were expecting?”

“I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I thought tattoos artists were…” Dowoon trails off, not sure how to say it politely.

“Covered in art?” He smirks, “Some are but I’ve only got a few,”

Jae speaks up, “Wait until you see Jaebum-hyung, he’s covered and running out of blank skin,”

Before Dowoon can voice his question, Brian answers it, “He’s my business partner. He does tattoos sometimes but mostly focuses on piercings,” His brow furrows, “He said he would be here by 12:30, the fucker ducked out on moving,”

“Wow,” a new voice interrupts, “Tell me how you really feel, hyung,”

Dowoon looks to the door and assumes it must be Jaebum, based on the tattoos and glare he’s sending toward Brian.

“That is how I feel, Sungjin and Jinyoung helped with the truck and moving shit in and Dowoon from next door helped move shit around,” Brian gestures at Dowoon, who waves meekly, “Were you really busy or were you making shit up to avoid helping?”

“I was helping Youngjae with his puppy,” Jaebum says, tossing his bag onto the counter, “You know that puppy would be smothered if we left Youngjae to his own devices,”

Brian opens his mouth, only to be cut off by Jae, “Jaebum-hyung has a point. Bless Youngjae’s heart but he loves Coco so much and might actually smother her,”

The glare doesn’t leave Brian’s face, but he accepts the explanation. Dowoon sees Jae and Jaebum exchange mirror grins and thumbs up behind Brian’s back. He opens his mouth, but Jaebum is a little (read: a lot) intimidating and Dowoon would rather take his chances with Jimin over him.

Jaebum approaches him, making him tense up. A chuckle escapes Jaebum, “I don’t bite unless you want me to,”

“Ugh, gross! None of us need to know about your sex life!” Brian yells from one of the back rooms.

“Im Jaebum, you must be Dowoon,”

“Ah, yes, Yoon Dowoon,” The two exchange bows.

“Hey, is Jinyoung still looking for a job?” Brian asks as he walks back into the main room, confusing everyone.

“How would I know? You were the one who saw him this morning,” Jaebum says.

Brian looks up, “Oh, right, you two are still in denial of feelings,” Jae snorts, but quickly schools his face into a neutral expression at Jaebum’s glare.

“Jinyoung and I are not ‘in denial of feelings.’ We’ve been friends for years and that’s all we are,” a puzzled look crosses Jaebum’s face, “But he doesn’t want to work with us in the shop,”

“But would he be opposed to working in a flower shop?” Brian counters, setting up the register and computer on one end of the counter.

“If you were the one to ask him, then yeah,” Jaebum mutters, “Why?”

“Dowoon here is doing a favor for his friend, Wonpil, and working at Sprout of Heaven next door, but he’s allergic to every pollen under the sun. If Wonpil gets a different person, Dowoon won’t have to risk death for his friend,”

“It’s not risking death, Brian-ssi,” Dowoon starts only for Brian to stop him.

“First of all, call me hyung. Second, Wonpil told me that you’re a drama queen and after every rush you act like you’re dying so don’t tell me it’s not risking death, when you blame Wonpil for your pending death every day,” Brian is pointing something at him from across the room but Dowoon can’t tell what.

Dowoon concedes and Brian turns back to Jaebum, “Any idea when the little shits get here?”

Jaebum shrugs and a shrill voice echoes through the shop, “To think I got you a coffee to appease you. It seems like we aren’t appreciated, Yugyeom. Let’s just go back to the café,” 

“Wait, if Jaebum was helping Youngjae with Coco this morning,” Jae points at the newcomers, “Where were you two?”

The shorter of the two loses all color. Jaebum and Brian have already started walking to the door and they each grab one boy by the ear, pulling them farther into the shop while Jae closes the door behind them.

“You better have a damn good excuse for not helping with moving today,” Brian threatens, still pulling the taller of the two, Yugyeom, Dowoon thinks was his name, towards one back room while Jaebum goes to the other room.

Jae suddenly appears next to Dowoon on the couch, “Those two are their apprentices. Bambam is Jaebum’s for piercings and Yugyeom is Brian’s for tattoos,”

“Are they gonna be okay?” Dowoon isn’t sure what the business partners had in mind for the apprentices.

“They’ll probably just get a few of tedious cleaning jobs. Nothing terrible,” Jae shrugs, “They’re good kids, but Bambam is pretty stubborn and sometimes forgets that Brian and Jaebum are his bosses,” Jae claps him on the shoulder, “I have to get going, thanks for the flower help, Brian loved them,” Jae nods towards a glass on the counter Dowoon hadn’t seen before, both orchids sitting in a few inches of water. He stands and heads to the door, “I’m leaving now! See you later!” He calls towards the back and doesn’t bother waiting for a response before leaving.

Not sure what to do, Dowoon looks around, the room. Most of the boxes had been unpacked, with only a few remaining, Dowoon checks what is inside. It looks like something to do with jewelry. He wanders back to the glass top counter, looking at what Brian had already placed there. Dowoon is examining all that is set out only to be startled by a voice behind him.

“Are you thinking about a piercing?” It’s Jaebum’s apprentice, Bambam, Jae had told him. “I’m Bambam, it’s nice to meet you…”

“Dowoon,” he shakes his head slightly, “I just have the one,” he gestures to his left ear, “I’m not looking for anymore. I was just looking around. Brian-hyung and Wonpil-hyung would both kill me if I tried to go back to work, so I’m pretty much trapped here,”

“I’m only an apprentice but I bet I could give you a free piercing,” Dowoon wants to protest, “Just think about it,”

Jaebum walks into the main room at that moment, “What kind of free piercing are you talking about? The legit kind has to be cleared with me,”

Bambam flinches, “I was going for the legit kind, but I didn’t want to ask you if he didn’t want one,”

Jaebum ruffles Bambam’s hair, “If he does, I’ll supervise,” Jaebum starts unpacking the box Dowoon had peeked in earlier, “But I’m gonna tell Yugyeom and Youngjae you were flirting,”

Dowoon feels his ears go bright red as Bambam protests, “I wasn’t hyung!”

Before Jaebum can respond, the front bell jingles, “Ah, we aren’t open yet,” he calls to the front. 

“I know, I’m here for my baby,”

Dowoon turns to see Wonpil, “Hyung, did you close early?”

“Yeah, but it’s fine,”

“How many parents do you have?” Brian’s voice comes from the back of the shop, “First Jackson, now Wonpil,”

“Other than Jimin, but she doesn’t count because she’s group mom no matter how much she denies it, Dowoonie is the youngest in our group and we all love to baby him,” Wonpil explains, “His actual family is back in Busan so we’re kind of a temp family. Jimin and her roommate Yerin are from Daejeon, Jackson is from Hong Kong, and Mark is from LA. My family is the closet in Incheon, but I don’t get home that often,”

Wonpil throws an arm over Dowoon’s shoulders, a little bit of a feat with Dowoon being slightly taller than him, “Come on, Jackson’s gonna kill me and then he and Jimin will reanimate me so Jimin can too,”

“I might take you up on your offer another day, Bambam-ssi,” Dowoon tells him.

They are almost out the door when Jaebum sighs, “We’re having a sort of warming party here tonight if you want to come. It’s gonna be us and Jae, Sungjin, and Jinyoung. Youngjae might make it. If you want to invite those other two, Jimin and Jackson, you’re welcome to,”

Dowoon, ready to get into pajamas and snuggle into bed, opens his mouth to thank them for the offer but politely decline, only for Wonpil to cut him off, “We’d love to. We’re going to head across the street to the café and my pending death but once Jackson and Jimin are off we’ll come back,”

Bambam waves sadly at Dowoon as Jaebum nudges him towards another box to start unpacking.

When the two of them walk into the café and find it mostly empty, Wonpil announces for Jackson and Jimin, “I’m here for my death, please make it swift and as painless as possible,”

Jackson is preoccupied, cleaning something in the kitchen, but Jimin looks ready to vault the counter. “Jackson told me that you left our Dowoonie to die in your shop,”

“Okay that is most definitely not what happened,” Wonpil defends, “I went to meet our new neighbors and a customer came while I was gone. Dowoon sold him a Naked Man orchid and a Hookers Lips orchid—”

Jackson walks out of the kitchen at that moment, “He sold the little men and the lips? Please tell me that almost dying was worth it,”

A thumbs-up from Dowoon splits Jackson’s face into a grin, “Pil is forgiven,”

Jimin groans, “I hate how easily you are won over. You guys want the regular?”

Dowoon shakes his head while Wonpil nods, “Sure, also we were invited to a store warming party at Brian-hyung’s shop. We, meaning all four of us, so when do you guys get off?”

Jimin checks the time, “About half an hour,”

Wonpil and Dowoon take a seat at one of the tables by the window, “I’m gonna find a part-timer,” Wonpil promises.

“Okay, hyung,”

Wonpil chatters about what he talked about with Brian, while Dowoon mulls over Bambam’s offer. Jackson does his best to look busy but when there’s only one person in the corner besides Wonpil and Dowoon, there isn’t much for him to do. Jimin is wiping down the various machines until she throws the rag at Jackson. He grumbles before taking up Jimin’s position. Jimin in turn starts restocking the cups and sleeves by the register, as well as straws and stirrers at the other end of the counter.

Jihyo walks through the door, waving brightly to Wonpil and Dowoon. 

Because the four of them live in such close proximity, Dowoon and Wonpil always wait so they can walk back together. It started when Jimin would have to close alone or with Kevin, and they didn’t want her walking alone, but even when Jackson is closing with her, old habits die hard.

They cross the street together, but this time instead of just walking straight in, Wonpil knocks on the door while Dowoon is trying to avoid Jimin’s noogie. Yugyeom opens the door and gestures them in.

Introductions go around and Dowoon learns that Yugyeom and Bambam are the same age as Jimin while Brian is the oldest in the room. It doesn’t take long for Jinyoung and Sungjin to show up with beer and apparently pizza that Jaebum and Brian had ordered.

It’s when Jackson is texting Mark that Brian tells him to go ahead and invite him. Not two seconds later, Jaebum is telling Jimin to invite her roommate too.

“We need more smart people here and when you start putting beer in these guys they get really dumb,”

Mark and Yerin arrive together about 15 minutes later and Jae comes in with more beer and someone Dowoon hadn’t seen yet. Introductions go around the room yet again and he learns this is Youngjae. Bambam, who had been barnacled onto Yugyeom, detaches and attaches himself to Youngjae.

Wonpil and Jae are in a very loud argument about Wonpil’s pink sweater that he’s wearing, keeping everyone’s attention. Dowoon, who has had this argument more times than he cares to count, ends up staring at Brian, playing his favorite mental game of _Is he gay?_

He’s not sure which part of his brain is winning, but he’s distracted enough that he doesn’t notice Jaebum approaching him.

He jumps when Jaebum nudges him in the ribs, “Hyung is bi,” Dowoon starts to panic that he had voiced his thoughts aloud, “Trust me, I’ve seen pining in our friend group enough to know what it looks like. The tension between the time when Bambam and Yugyeom starting dating to figuring out polyamory and adding Youngjae to their relationship was absolute hell,”

The argument has died down and other conversation has picked up again. The two of them stand in a comfortable silence, watching around the room.

“Oh,” Jaebum must have suddenly remembered something, “Hyung also thinks lip piercings are really attractive,”

Dowoon feels his entire face, all the way up to his ears, heat up. Jaebum chuckles and claps him on the back before heading over to talk to Jackson. Dowoon is about to join Bambam in his conversation with Mark and Jae, but Brian pops into his field of vision, almost causing him to fall backwards. Brian catches his wrist to keep him upright.

“So, I talked to Jinyoung and he would actually like to work in a flower shop. Then I mentioned it to Wonpil and before I even finished my sentence he was down,” The huge grin on Brian’s face stops Dowoon’s face from returning to a normal color. “You don’t have to suffer everyday now,”

“I still need to help hyung with rent, though,” Dowoon mutters.

“Which is why I’m hiring you as a receptionist sort of thing,”

Jaebum calls across the room, “Do we have the money for that, hyung?”

Brian waves him off, “So what do you say?” No one is really paying too much attention to them, only Jaebum is watching Dowoon closely. Dowoon meets his eyes over Brian’s shoulder and he starts nodding vigorously. 

Dowoon nods, much slower than Jaebum, but Brian lets out a whoop. Jaebum shoots Dowoon a thumbs-up. Remembering his intent to talk to Bambam, Dowoon scans the room for him. He’s still talking to Mark, but Jae has been replaced with Jackson. Dowoon makes his way over, Bambam is talking about his relationship with both Youngjae and Yugyeom and he seems to be full of nothing but love and admiration. Judging by Jackson’s face, he’s been gushing for a while so Dowoon doesn’t feel too bad about interrupting.

“Hey, Bambam, I think I’m gonna take you up on your offer,”

His face positively lights up, “Really? It’ll have to be tomorrow, hyung is too drunk to supervise at this point,”

“Wait, what offer,” Jackson looks between the two suspiciously.

“Dowoon-hyung agreed—” Bambam starts before cutting off when Dowoon’s elbow digs into his ribs.

“It’s nothing Jackson-hyung,” Dowoon says innocently. If Jackson finds out, the entire block will know by the end of the week. If he keeps drinking like he is Dowoon would be lucky to make it to morning before everyone knows.

“I don’t believe you,” Jackson is skeptical.

“Just drop it, I’m sure it’s fine,” Bless Mark’s soul. Jackson is distracted and Bambam shoots him a questioning look. Dowoon hesitantly taps at his lip and Bambam’s eyes widen.

Jackson manages to escape before Bambam starts gushing about his boyfriends again, but it isn’t very long before Yerin is tapping on Dowoon’s shoulder, “Oppa, Jimin and I are gonna head home,”

Jackson had drifted back to his boyfriend’s side so Dowoon grabs his wrist to check the time, 11:29. “We should probably get going too,” Dowoon yells at Wonpil, “Hey, the girls want to head home!”

Wonpil breaks off his conversation with Sungjin to join Dowoon, Jackson, Mark and the girls by the door.

“It was nice to meet you all!” Jackson yells, a little beyond tipsy. They wave to everyone before the door closes. Wonpil and Dowoon are both still relatively sober, so before anyone walks anywhere, they both crouch slightly for the girls to jump on. 

“Oppa~” Yerin whines from behind Wonpil, “You don’t have to,”

“We want to Yerin,” Wonpil says. Jimin had already jumped onto Dowoon’s back while Mark was supporting Jackson.

The walk back to their apartment complex takes longer than it should, but Jackson is easily distracted on a good day and he’s even worse when he’s drunk. Dowoon and Wonpil let the girls down outside their door and wait for them to get through the door before the pairs split off for their own apartments.

Dowoon falls into bed and is asleep immediately.

The next morning, he rolls out of bed at 6:12 to someone pounding on the front door. Wonpil sleeps like the dead and doesn’t open Sprout of Heaven until 8, so Dowoon isn’t expecting him to wake up to get the door.

He opens the door, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and yawning. Jimin is standing there, hands on her hips, “Jackson is sick and can’t open the café with Kevin today so I’m going in for him. Mark and Yerin already left or else I would tag along with them,”

Mark and Yerin work as nurses at the same hospital, usually on the same shift, so they go together. Dowoon grimaces slightly at how late they were out last night and having to be up so early for work.  
“Give me 2 minutes,” he invites her in and starts getting ready. No matter how much Jimin and Yerin complained that the boys wouldn’t let them walk to and from work alone, they never tried to get out of it. After sticking a note to Wonpil’s forehead, he shoves his feet into shoes and heads out with Jimin. 

“Jackson was supposed to be there at 6 and when he wasn’t, Kevin called me to check on him,” Jimin explains as they walk. “Mark gave me a spare key ages ago, so I used it to get in and he looked absolutely terrible, and not like hungover terrible but that too. I think he’s running a fever,”

Dowoon nods, already pulling his phone out to text Wonpil about the situation, “Mark gave me and Wonpil a key too,” Dowoon makes a mental note to get duplicates of their key made for Mark and Jimin.

They make good time and arrive at the café at 6:27, just shy of half an hour after opening. Kevin seems to have been doing okay on his own, but Dowoon sees the relief when he and Jimin walk through the door. Jimin tosses her purse to Dowoon while pulling on her apron and hurrying around the counter, taking Kevin’s place in making drinks while he runs the register.

Dowoon takes a seat at an empty table to wait the rush out. About 45 minutes later, just as it is starting to die down, a text from Wonpil comes in. **Jimin is right, he’s running a fever. Can you show Jinyoung the ropes to opening the shop? I shouldn’t be too late, I just want to set him up with a little bit of food**

Dowoon groans, knowing he’ll have to endure allergy hell for at least half an hour. Jimin comes over to the table to give Dowoon his regular drink and take her purse, “What’s up?”

“Jackson does have a fever, so Wonpil is gonna hang back and get him set up so he’s gonna be a bit late. He wants me to help Jinyoung-hyung open up the shop,”

“You have a key to the store?”

“Yeah, Wonpil-hyung lost his once or twice and decided that I should have a key since I’m so much better at keeping track of things,” Dowoon pulls his keyring out, holding up the key to Sprout of Heaven, “But after I open with Jinyoung-hyung, I’m giving it to him, so I don’t have to help anymore,”

Jimin smiles widely at him and ruffles his hair, “I have to work my afternoon shift too, so I’ll come across the street when I’m done,”

“I’ll be waiting,” Dowoon remembers to text confirmation back to Wonpil and glances out the window. Brian is across the street, unlocking the door to his shop, YoungSoul. Dowoon wonders when the sign went up as he waves to Jimin and Kevin and darts across the street to join Brian.

“Hyung,”

“Ah, Dowoon, perfect. We don’t open until 9 but I can give you a rundown of how it’s gonna be,” His brow furrows, “But why are you here so early?”

“I walked Jimin to work,” he gestures across the street, missing the glare that crosses Brian’s face. “But I actually need to help in Sprout of Heaven. Before you argue, Jackson is sick and Wonpil is just making sure he’s going to be okay, so I have to help Jinyoung open up, that’s it,”

“Why can’t Mark look after Jackson?”

“He and Yerin went to work early this morning. They’re both nurses at the hospital and there’s no way he’s getting away from that. It’s gonna be max half an hour,” Dowoon doesn’t want to do this at all, but he knows that he needs to, for Wonpil.

“You won’t touch any flowers?” 

_Why does Brian care so much?_ “No hyung, I won’t touch any flowers. I’ll do my best to keep the time I have to be there down to a minimum,”

The bell above the door rings, Jinyoung standing in the doorway. “Wonpil isn’t here even though he’s supposed to open in 15 minutes?”

Dowoon digs his keys out of his pocket again, “He’s gonna be a little late so I’m showing you the ropes for opening,” Brian grabs his wrist before he gets too far and Dowoon really hopes his ears aren’t betraying him, “I promise I’ll be careful, hyung. Max half an hour,” He doesn’t seem to like it, but Brian accepts it and lets Dowoon go.

Dowoon unlocks the door and holds it open for Jinyoung. It’s only when the door is falling closed behind Dowoon that Jinyoung speaks up, “Hyung is so whipped for you,”

Dowoon was trying to get the shop key off his keyring to give to Jinyoung and only half paying attention but his head whips around to look at Jinyoung as the keys fall to the floor. The tension is broken by a sneeze from Dowoon.

“He met me yesterday, he just cares about me as a friend,” Dowoon grabs his keys off the floor and finally gets Sprout of Heaven’s key off, “Here, I don’t want Wonpil-hyung to be able to rope me into helping again,”

Dowoon turns the sign from closed to open and he explains the process as best as he can. His sneezes start coming more frequently, and Jinyoung looks ready to kick him out and fend for himself until Wonpil arrives. “Okay, last thing before I leave. The back cooler has the finished arrangements from last night to be picked up this morning, “These should be picked up before noon. They each have the order attached to them with the name and rough time estimate for pick up. Unfinished orders are on the counter here,” he gestures next to the cooler, “Try to keep them in priority order. I know nothing about arrangements, so you can try, or you can wait until Wonpil gets here,” The clock above the door reads 8:20, “He shouldn’t be much longer,”

Jinyoung is pushing him towards the door, “I’ll be fine but if you’re here much longer Brian-hyung will kill me,” The bell dings and he shoves Dowoon lightly towards YoungSoul.

“I’m going,” Dowoon holds his hands up in surrender. 

One of the regulars to the shop passes him as he’s walking towards the Brian’s place, a confused look on their face. Just before Dowoon walks into YoungSoul, he looks down the street to see Wonpil running. He waves, which Wonpil tries to return but not very well. Dowoon smiles and pulls the door open. Brian is nowhere to be seen, but Jaebum and Bambam are on opposite sides of the counter, hunched over looking at something. They both look up at the jingle of the bell.

Bambam’s face lights up, “Hyung,” he looks towards Jaebum, “Can we do it now? He gonna be monopolized by Brian-hyung all day,”

Jaebum looks only slightly hungover and agrees after a moment. He gestures Dowoon over, “Do you chew the inside of your mouth? Because you’ll have to stop that for the next 6-8 weeks healing time,” Once Dowoon is close enough, Jaebum continues, “I want you to make sure you really want this. Not that you’re just—”

“I do want it!” Dowoon shouts, cutting Jaebum off, Bambam doesn’t need to know the other reasons behind the placement.

Bambam looks between them skeptically, “I’m just going to ignore that,” He taps the counter, “Now what kind do you want? Ring or stud? And where along your lip?”

“Ring, and here,” Dowoon taps on the right side of his lower lip. Dowoon leans over the counter to look at the display.

Jaebum seems to be considering jumping over the counter, but decides against it and circling around it, clapping Dowoon on the shoulder, “Then let’s get this done before Brian and Yugyeom finish up their practice session,”

Once Dowoon in in the chair, with Bambam pulling on gloves and cleaning his lip and sterilizing all the equipment he’ll need, does the realization of what he’s doing actually hit him. Jaebum must see it in his face, “Still sure about it?”

He takes a deep breath, “Yeah, let’s do this,”

Jaebum smirks, his own lip ring catches Dowoon’s eye, _Yeah, I’m not doing this because hyung likes these, that’s just a possible side benefit that I’m not gonna think about. Because he’s not into me like that._

Bambam is talking through the process as much for his own benefit as Dowoon’s. Jaebum is nodding along in the back. Dowoon only feels a little pinch and then it’s over. Jaebum steps in closer to make sure Bambam does the finishing up correctly. Dowoon gets handed a mirror, to examine it for himself. 

A smile spreads across his face, “I love it,”

Jaebum checks his watch, “We better get back out there, I’m sure they finished up and hyung is probably looking for you. Here, give me your phone. I’ll text you all the care instructions you need I’m just gonna give you the basics now,”

Bambam is cleaning up and Jaebum is putting his number in Dowoon’s phone while Dowoon is moving the mirror around to examine it from all angles. Jaebum starts giving him the basics as they walk out of the room, “If we have some sheets printed I’ll give you one of those too,”

Jaebum keeps walking but Dowoon freezes in place. Brian and Yugyeom are standing next to the counter, talking. Brian is pulling on a tank top, his back exposed and covered in ink and Dowoon feels his ears heating up. Jaebum is smirking, and Bambam connects the dots when he walks out of the room. 

“Hyung, what if a customer walks in while you’re shirtless?” Jaebum calls across the room.

“We still have 20 minutes until we open,” Brian says as he turns around, “The only person who’s likely to come in is…” He trails off when he sees Dowoon, standing between Jaebum and Bambam. Once Brian notices the lip ring, he and Dowoon just stare at each other, while the other three look on. Yugyeom is confused, ready to ask what’s going on before Bambam shakes his head. 

“How’s the new ink coming, hyung?” Bambam finally breaks the silence.

Brian is shaking his head, “Yugyeom says it looks good but I can’t see it, so I’m just taking his word for it,”

Bambam leans into Yugyeom’s side as he peers at Brian’s right shoulder, “It does look good,”

“You’re just saying that because he’s your boyfriend,” Brian mutters.

“Fine, Jaebummie-hyung, come look at this,” Bambam gestures over. Pulling Dowoon along, Jaebum examines Yugyeom’s work.

“It does look good, hyung. Maybe next time for a training piece, pick a place you can see,” Jaebum pats Brian’s other shoulder as he continues to the other side of the counter. 

“Or recruit someone, like you did?” Brian is muttering again. Dowoon reaches up towards his lip, only for Bambam to smack his hand down.

“We have any care sheets lying around?” Jaebum asks, ignoring Brian’s muttering.

“Not that I know of,” Brian leans over the counter to look where Jaebum is digging around, “They would be down there if we did,”

“Just checking you weren’t hiding them from me. And I didn’t recruit him. Bambam asked him when they met yesterday, and I think he decided last night,”

Brian ignores Jaebum’s comment, “Let’s give you a quick run-down of how things are gonna run,” He explains Dowoon’s jobs and responsibilities. It doesn’t take nearly as long as Brian probably thought it would and by the time they’re officially open, Dowoon has it all down.

Since it’s the first day of being open, no one is scheduled so it’s just walk ins and most people aren’t wandering in for a tattoo or piercing at 9 am.

It is nearly 10 o’clock when someone walks in. Dowoon quickly sits up in the stool behind the computer and register, “Welcome to YoungSoul, how can I help you today?” 

The woman looks at him, a little lost, “I’m not sure,”

“Would you like a tattoo or piercing?” Dowoon asks softly, thinking that Brian and Jaebum had the right idea hiring him as a front man, both of them far more intimidating than himself.

“I- um—" she stammers.

“It’s important that you are committed to this decision,” Dowoon says.

This seems to steel her, “I want to get my nipples pierced,”

Bambam, who was lounging on the couch with Yugyeom, nothing for either of them to do, crashes to the floor. Dowoon feels his ears going bright red. “Jaebum-hyung!”

He sticks his head out the door, “Yeah?” He sees Bambam on the floor and Dowoon’s red ears from across the store. He walks over to Dowoon to help him, “It’s his first day,” he explains, “How can we help you?”

Jaebum seems to intimidate her, which doesn’t surprise Dowoon, what with his pierced eyebrow and lip and the tattoos covering his arms, but she is committed, “I want to get my nipples pierced,”

The two apprentices and Dowoon are all watching Jaebum for his reaction. What no one was expecting was for him to go red, “Would you let to set up a time or did you have time right now?” He’s looking around for something, until Dowoon grabs the release form from his other side and a pen.

“Now,” she states firmly, filling out the form, “My boyfriend is gonna try and talk me out of it, but I want this,”

“It’s not just because he doesn’t want it that you want to get it, right?” Jaebum asks, his face beginning to return to its normal color.

“No, I’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks,” She pushes the form back across the counter. “If he doesn’t support me then we can break up,” Dowoon is impressed with her resolve.

Jaebum looks over the form, asks a few clarifying questions, then gestures for her to follow him. He looks to Bambam as if questioning whether he wants to watch or not, and Bambam, who is still sitting on the floor, shakes his head aggressively. As soon as the door shuts behind Jaebum, Bambam speaks up, “We need a woman here, or a straight man. We’re too gay in here,”

“Jaebum-hyung—” Yugyeom starts, only to be cut off by Bambam.

“Have you seen how he looks at Jinyoung-hyung? That is not the way a straight man looks at his friend,”

“It was nice knowing you Bam,” Dowoon says, “But hyung has a special sense for when someone is talking shit like that,”

“Yeah, maybe he won’t kill me, and he’ll get his head out of his ass,” 

“Not likely,” another voice speaks up, Brian has come back into the main room, “Where is Jaebum?”

“Giving a girl some nipple piercings,” Bambam nods back at the closed door.

Brian nods, “And this has what to do with him actually getting together with Jinyoung?”

Yugyeom is the one who speaks up, “Bam said we’re too gay in here and we need a straight man or a woman in here,”

Brian gives Dowoon a strange look but shrugs it off. “Maybe we can get another apprentice or artist,”

Bambam and Yugyeom assess the pros and cons of having a third apprentice or artist until Jaebum walks out with the woman about half an hour later. He knocks Bambam over the head as he walks past to help Dowoon ring the transaction out. 

The woman thanks them and Jaebum and Dowoon wave as she leaves. As soon as she’s gone, Jaebum picks up the pen on the counter and throws it at Bambam.

“Talk shit, get hit,” Yugyeom mutters.

Before Bambam can defend himself, the bell dings, bringing Jimin into the shop, “I’ve got 20 minutes, what can I get?”

Jaebum and Brian are stuck in a staring contest, so Bambam and Yugyeom check what she already has. “We can’t do much in the realm of tattoos in 20 minutes,” Yugyeom says.

“And there’s really not much space for more piercings on your ears,” Bambam mutters.

Jimin notices Dowoon hanging back, he reaches towards his face. “Hey!” Jaebum calls, “No touching,”

Jimin squints and moves closer, “My baby got a lip piercing?” Dowoon nods slowly. “That’s what I want,”

“That gonna be fine with the café?” Bambam asks.

“Eric can deal with it,” Jimin says. While Dowoon nods, giving a thumbs-up, having met Eric and knowing he’ll be fine with it. Eric was probably one of the chillest straight dudes he had ever met.

Bambam grabs Jaebum and drags him while Jimin follows.

The piercing doesn’t take long and Jimin and Bambam are fast friends by the time they walk out. Jaebum looks like he regrets a lot of things.

Dowoon rings up her transaction without help and he can feel Jaebum and Brian looking on proudly.

“You two have proud dad looks on your faces right now,” Jimin says as she hands her card over, “No more commenting on the number of parents Dowoon has because you’re on the list now,”

Neither of them really wants to protest the point so Jaebum shrugs. “Better kid than the two over there,” Bambam and Yugyeom make offended noises but Jimin is taking her card back and leaving the shop before they can defend themselves. She waves back at the shop as she darts back across the street.

The rest of the day is relatively quiet, a few more walk in piercings and one for a small tattoo, as well as a few appointments scheduled over the next few days for tattoos and some for piercings as well.

It’s almost time to close up and Bambam and Jaebum are doing one last piercing while Yugyeom and Brian are cleaning up the tattoo gun and all the ink. Dowoon is sweeping the main room.

The bell tinkles one more time, drawing Dowoon’s attention. Jimin is walking in, relieved from her shift at the café. “Hey, can I set up a tattoo appointment?” She leans on the counter across from where Brian is standing, having finished most of the cleaning.

“Are you gonna be nice to me?” Brian teases.

“Yugyeom, you want some more practice?” Jimin calls out.

“Always!”

Brian scowls, “Fine,” He pulls a calendar up, “How’s next Thursday at 10?”

“Sweet,” she smiles back at Dowoon, “I’d tell you what I’m getting but can’t have everyone in our friend group knowing,”

It doesn’t take too long for the man that was getting an eyebrow piercing to get finished up and get paid and walk out. Dowoon flips the sign, knowing Wonpil is gonna walk over when’s he’s all closed up, so he leaves it unlocked. They five of them finish up cleaning and it doesn’t take much longer for Wonpil and Jinyoung to walk in, laughing together.

Dowoon smiles and waves from where he is putting the cleaning supplies away. Wonpil sees Jimin and Dowoon can tell the exact moment he realizes what she did. Jimin points over at him and Wonpil nearly trips to get a closer look at Dowoon.

“My baby is all grown up, getting lip rings,”

“Are you sure I’m the one taking drama queen lessons from Jackson?” Dowoon asks.

Jimin starts laughing, “Come on boys, we have to go check up on the invalid, make sure he hasn’t died,”

They wave and head for home. Mark and Yerin are probably home or on their way, but Mark doesn’t need to be on his own when taking care of sick Jackson.

“So, how’s it going with your crush on Brian?” Jimin asks, speeding up a bit to walk backwards in front of Dowoon.

“Careful,” Wonpil warns, eyeing the platform heels she’s wearing.

“Yugyeom is doing a practice piece on him and it’s on his shoulder so after I walked out with my new piercing he was standing shirtless,” 

“Gay panic,” Jimin nods. Wonpil shakes his head.

Before Dowoon can explain further, Wonpil nudges him, “So I talked to Jinyoung today,”

“I would hope so, you work with him,” Dowoon interrupts.

“Okay, listen here, smartass,” Wonpil threatens. Jimin laughs as Wonpil continues, “I was talking to Jinyoung about your hopeless crush on Brian and he told me that Brian is crushing so hard on you it’s almost painful to watch,”

“I’m not listening to a guy who is ignoring his feelings,” Dowoon says, “Bambam and Brian both said Jaebum and Jinyoung need to get their shit in order and that the two of them are basically a couple already,”

Jimin and Wonpil try and get more details out of Dowoon but remain unsuccessful. Jimin goes back to her apartment to check on Jamie before checking on Jackson, but Dowoon and Wonpil go to Jackson and Mark’s apartment right away.

Wonpil unlocks the door, “Hyung! We’re back to make sure you didn’t die!”

They kick off their shoes next to Mark’s, he and Yerin must have gotten back recently.

Jackson must be feeling better because he calls back, albeit a little hoarsely, “You traitors! Leaving me for work!” They round the corner to find Mark laying across Jackson’s stomach, “Let me up, Mark, I need to fight them,”

“No, you need rest,” Mark says, “He should be fine tomorrow morning,” He throws over his shoulder.

Before Wonpil or Dowoon can say anything, Jimin is calling throughout the apartment, “Oppa you better appreciate me! I worked your shift and mine,”

Yerin is following her, “I really don’t think this is going to help Jackson-oppa get better,”

They come into Jackson’s line of sight and he zeros in on Jimin’s lip ring, “You still had time to get a lip ring! I can’t believe you!”

Yerin and Mark exchange a look, “Never mind I’m sure this won’t make any difference,”

Jimin points to Dowoon, redirecting Jackson’s emotions, “Our baby got a lip ring? Jimin why have you corrupted him?”

“He got his first!” she defends, “I went in at like 10:30 and he already had his. If anyone is corrupting him, it’s Bambam and Yugyeom,”

Jimin and Jackson reduce farther into childish bickering. Mark seems to think Jackson isn’t going to do too much, so he gets up, gesturing for Yerin and Dowoon to follow him, leaving Wonpil entranced by the argument.

“Family dinner tonight?” Mark asks as he starts pulling various things out of the cabinets. 

Yerin begins helping Mark, “Yeah, they’re gonna be at it for a while,” Jackson and Jimin’s argument hasn’t died down yet but it doesn’t seem to be escalating which is a good sign.

Dowoon moves to take his usual spot for family dinner preparations. Mark gets all the vegetables he needs cut and puts them on the edge of the sink. Dowoon gets to work washing them and then cutting them, he’s not very inclined to cooking, but he can cut vegetables. Yerin and Mark are working together to get everything else they need together.

Dowoon finishes in no time and returns to his seat at the table, the three of them making small talk. Wonpil almost topples into the kitchen. Yerin continues cooking but Mark and Dowoon both turn to look at Wonpil. “Yes?” she asks, eyes still on her task at hand.

“No one died,” Wonpil answers almost immediately.

“Dude,” Dowoon says, struggling not to laugh, “what kind of answer is that?”

“Okay Jackson might have said something that deserves him to get hit,”

Jimin calls down the hallway, “There is no might about it! Talk shit, get hit!”

“I was only speaking the truth!” comes Jackson’s defense.

“Hyung! Next time consider keeping that truth to yourself!” Wonpil calls back. “He said she probably gained 10 pounds from how heavy the bags under her eyes looked,”

Mark closes his eyes and takes a breath and Yerin finally looks up, “Mark-oppa, your boyfriend needs to stop picking fights with my girlfriend,” What she said clicks a few seconds after she says it and her eyes widen. The three boys are just staring wide-eyed at her.

The silence is finally broken by Mark, “Okay pay up,” he turns towards Wonpil and Dowoon.

“I can’t believe you were right about them already dating, hyung,” Wonpil whines, placing what he owes on the counter as Dowoon does the same.

“You were betting on our relationship?” Yerin looks a little like Jimin after Jackson says something stupid.

“You adopted a cat together but adamantly maintained you were just friends,” Mark explains calmly, “What else were we supposed to do? Believe you? Please,”

A strangled call for help comes done the hall. “You deserve it, Jackson!” Mark calls back. When Wonpil and Dowoon give him a look, he simply shrugs, “I’m not gonna defend his idiotic antics. Talk shit, get hit,”

It isn’t long before Jimin is helping Jackson walk down the hall, wrapped in a blanket.

“I can’t believe you left me for dead,” Jackson complains to the room at large.

“Too bad hyung,” Wonpil shrugs, “I had to open with Jinyoung,”

“You were late and made me help Jinyoung-hyung open,” Dowoon interrupts.

Wonpil points at Dowoon accusingly, “It was only 20 minutes and it’s because I was helping Jackson,”

“Wonpillie is a good friend,” Jae says from his seat, “The rest of you suck,”

Mark and Yerin are moving everything to the table as the other four descend into another argument. Once everything is set on the table, Mark knocks Jackson over the head, “Be nice,” everyone starts sitting down, Mark and Jimin being on either side of Jackson to take care of him. “Also, you owe me, I won the bet,”

Jimin turns to Yerin. She holds up her hands, “It slipped out,”

Jackson and Jimin are bickering throughout dinner, managing to drag Wonpil and Dowoon onto each of their sides.

Wonpil stands and starts cleaning up, Jimin quickly rising to help. Once everything is cleaned up, Wonpil, Dowoon and the girls wave as they leave for their own apartments.

The next morning Dowoon sleeps until 8:30, and even then, he’d rather lay in bed than go in to work. He manages to drag himself up and gets ready in probably record time. It doesn’t take long to get to the shop and when he walks in, Jaebum is the one standing by the register. 

“Hyung is gonna be a bit late,” he mutters, flipping through what looks like mail. Dowoon nods and tries not to let it get to him. Jaebum looks up after a minute or so, “I saw Jackson in the café when I came in, so I’m guessing he didn’t die. Anything eventful happen?”

Before Dowoon answers, Sungjin walks in the shop. “Brian gonna be late?” Jaebum nods and turns his attention back to Dowoon.

Dowoon groans, “Mark-hyung won our bet,” At Jaebum’s look of confusion, Dowoon explains, “The four of us had a bet on when Jimin and Yerin would start dating. Mark-hyung bet that they already were and just hiding it from us,”

Sungjin frowns, “So you aren’t dating Jimin?”

Dowoon makes a face, “Jimin and I are both very gay, so no,”

Sungjin snorts, “Brian is convinced you and Jimin are dating,”

Jaebum gives Sungjin a look, “When did he tell you that?”

“Last night he wanted me to listen to the new song he’s working on. The lyrics are all about unrequited love and it’s not that hard to guess who it’s about,” Sungjin makes himself comfortable on the couch, “Chan is about ready to take away lyric writing privileges after all these sad songs,”

“Hyung writes music?” Dowoon asks before he can stop himself.

Jaebum looks back towards Dowoon, almost like he forgot Dowoon was there, “Yeah and it has always been very influenced by his emotions,”

Sungjin looks like he was about to say something else when the door opens. Bambam freezes when everyone looks at him, “Yes?”

“We’re gossiping about Brian,” Sungjin says as if it explains everything.

Which apparently it does as Bambam simply responds, “What now?” 

“He thinks Jimin and Dowoon are dating,” Sungjin supplies, “He won’t stop writing sad songs and I swear Chan is going to beat Brian with his own bass next one he has to hear,”

The conversation pauses again when the door opens, but it’s only Yugyeom so they continue, “But Dowoon and Jimin aren’t dating?” Bambam clarifies, looking towards Dowoon.

“Well, considering that we’re both super gay,” Dowoon starts, “Also Jimin and Yerin have been dating for we’re not sure how long. Mark-hyung won our bet last night when Yerin accidentally mentioned it,” Dowoon groans, but in the next second is slamming his hands on the counter, “But they adopted a cat together and tried to tell us they were just friends. Did they expect us to believe that because absolutely none of us did?”

Yugyeom flips the sign to signal that they’re open, joining in on the gossip, “Okay I know that I’m bad at telling if someone is gay, but even I figured Jimin was,”

Their conversation is halted when the bell rings, bringing in someone Dowoon doesn’t recognize, but apparently everyone else does. Yugyeom enthusiastically calls out to her, “Noona!” while Bambam tries his hardest to hide himself. “Nayeon,” Jaebum says, directing his attention back to the mail, even though Dowoon is pretty sure he’s looked at all of it twice. “Why aren’t you in class?”

“My professor cancelled, the email said something about a sick kid,” she leans on the counter next to Jaebum, “None of these are addressed to you, oppa,”

He finally looks at Nayeon, “Brain and I co-own this shop so it’s just as much my mail as his,”

“Where is Brian-oppa?” she looks around, “I was hoping I could get a tattoo,”

Bambam, Yugyeom and Sungjin are all looking purposely everywhere but at Nayeon. Dowoon didn’t really know why, yeah, she’s pretty, but all of them are pretty fucking gay so why would it matter.

“He’s going to be late,” Jaebum busies himself with nothing to avoid looking at Nayeon. Dowoon is still confused and glancing around at everyone.

Nayeon notices Dowoon and directs her attention to him, “Do you know when Brian-oppa will be in?” And like that Dowoon knows why everyone was avoiding looking at her. She excels at making those eyes that just make you want to give her the whole world.

If Wonpil hadn’t used his own on Dowoon so much, it might have worked, “Not a clue,” he says before returning to his opening duties with the register.

Everyone in the store looks at Dowoon in awe. Jaebum breaks the silence eventually, “How did that not work on you?” he sounds incredulous, drawing Dowoon’s gaze up to find everyone staring at him open-mouthed.

“Wonpil-hyung used his all the time. After working in Sprout of Heaven so long it doesn’t work on me anymore,” Dowoon shrugs, “I think it still works on Jimin and maybe Jackson,”

Jinyoung bursts through the door moments later. When he sees Nayeon, he freezes, “Suddenly I’ve forgotten why I came over here. Bye,” and at that he’s back out the door.

Before the door is fully closed, a hand catches it from the outside, bringing Brian in, about half an hour late. “Was that Jinyoung and why was he running away?” He catches sight of Nayeon, “Ah, makes sense,” He sets his stuff down next to Dowoon, “I can give you a tattoo, but only if you pay, no favors,”

“What if Yugyeom did it?” she asks.

Yugyeom immediately starts shaking his head, not wanting any part in it. “Yugyeom is afraid of you, he doesn’t want to,”

“Oppa~” she draws the syllables out.

Brian flips through the mail Dowoon holds up, “Your pleading is not going to change anything. Ask your brother, maybe he’ll give you a piercing no charge,”

Everything clicks for Dowoon then, no wonder everyone knew her, if she’s Jaebum’s sister.

“I hate when you do that,” Jaebum says down the length of the counter to Brian, then turns towards his sister, “No, I’m not giving you a family discount that doesn’t exist,” Dowoon reaches up to itch his nose, “Don’t touch the piercing,”

“Yes, hyung, I know,”

Nayeon zeros in on Dowoon again, trying the eyes once more, “Are you an apprentice like Bambam and Yugyeom? Can you give me something at no charge?”

“Nope, I’m just a front man,” Dowoon notices a box that wasn’t beneath his feet yesterday, “Hyung,” he asks pulling it up on to the counter, “What’s this?”

Sungjin mutters to Yugyeom and Bambam, “He’s not even affected, and it freaks me out,”

Jaebum comes back closer to his sister, peering into the box as Brian does the same from his position next to Dowoon. Brian’s brow furrows in confusion while Jaebum realizes immediately what it is, “Oh, this is some paperwork stuff I found in a box at my apartment. Appointment cards, care sheets, receipt paper. I’m not sure where it came from, but I was looking for my license when I found them,”

Dowoon turns one of the cards over, “Jaded Fae?”

Brian blinks in surprise, “I did my apprenticeship there, but I didn’t realize I stole all those appointment cards,” He rifles through the rest of the stuff, “There’s no branding on the care sheets or receipt paper, but anything with a brand not YoungSoul we can’t use. Keep a few of the appointment cards so we can get some of our own printed eventually,”

“Oppa, are you sure we can’t date?” Nayeon leans towards Brian.

“I just opened this place and I’d rather not die and have Jaebum imprisoned so soon,” Brian says without looking up, “Also you’re really gay and I don’t want to compete with this Jeongyeon girl you’ve been going on about,”

Dowoon tries not to let his relief at Brian not being interested too obvious, but judging from the look Nayeon gives him, he wasn’t very successful. “If she would just notice,”

“Well if you don’t say anything, how is she supposed to know?” Jaebum asks.

Everyone recoils, knowing exactly what was going to come out of Nayeon’s mouth. “I’m not going to take relationship advice from someone who’s been denying their relationship for the past four years,”

Jaebum protests weakly, knowing that he can’t fight Nayeon. The conversation halts when a customer walks in. The kid can’t be more than 17, and when he starts talking, Dowoon is almost positive he’s that young if not younger.

“I want to get my nose pierced,” he says nervously.

Jaebum leans on the counter, “How old are you, kid?”

He sets his shoulders, “Old enough,”

Jaebum ruffles his hair, “Sorry kid. I don’t do face piercings on anyone under 18,”

“You just kill everyone’s fun, don’t you oppa?” Nayeon mutters from a little way away.

“I don’t want to be in trouble with the law when his parents come after me for piercing his nose,” Jaebum says, “You’re just upset that I won’t give you a non-existent family discount,”

Dowoon looks at the kid, and he suddenly seems familiar. The door opens again, bringing Minho into the store. Minho is Junho’s younger brother and hangs out at the salon next door all the time. Dowoon got to know him pretty well when they would see each other in the café while Dowoon was seeking relief and Minho was looking for entertainment.

“What’s up, Minho?” Dowoon calls out.

Minho looks at Dowoon in confusion, “Dowoon-hyung? What happened to Wonpil-hyung’s flower shop?”

“He finally hired a part-timer and I got out of there,” Dowoon smiles at him.

“So, you got a job next door?” He gives Dowoon a questioning look, “You guys are far too dependent on each other,”

“Did you come here for a reason other than calling me out?”

“Ah, I was looking for Jeongin,” he points to the kid on the other side of the counter. That’s why Dowoon recognizes him, he was nearly always hanging around Minho.

“Kid,” Jaebum looks at him again, “Come back when you’re 18 and then we’ll talk. I could get in a lot of trouble if I pierce anything before then without parental permission,”

“I guess,” Jeongin mutters.

“You’re almost there,” Minho tells him as they leave the shop, “Just a few months, then we’ll come back,”

“You know the kid?” Brian asks.

“Jeongin? Not really. Minho’s older brother owns the salon next door, so I know him from seeing him in the café occasionally,” Dowoon shrugs. “Now that I think about it, a lot of the business owners are pretty young. I don’t think we have all that many over 35,”

“Who do you know on the block?” Brian prompts.

“Well on the other side of Sprout of Heaven is a bookstore run by Taecyeon-hyung and Nichkhun-hyung. Eric-hyung runs the café and Jimin and Jackson-hyung and Kevin-hyung are the main baristas I know, but Momo and Jihyo also work there,” Dowoon stretches his memory of everyone he had met, “Junho-hyung has the salon next door. Fei-noona has a dance studio with Jia-noona. Suji-noona has a photography studio. Minyoung-noona and Sunmi-noona fill in at Junho-hyung’s salon occasionally, but they mostly work at their own place in Hongdae. Hyelim-noona has a tutoring studio and Sana and Mina help her between their classes. Yubin-noona and Yeeun-noona run a clothing store and tailoring studio jointly.”

“Do you just know everyone?” Nayeon looks on in amazement.

“Oh, Ahyeonie-noona opened a music store after Junhyeok-hyung left. And Chansung-hyung runs a dojo down the block. And Wooyoung-hyung works at the salon with Junho-hyung. I think that’s everyone I know,”

“Anyone we need to watch out for?” Jaebum leans onto the counter.

Dowoon pauses to think, “No one off the top of my head, at least not business owners. Some of the older ladies in the café are mean so careful of them,”

“They were mean, and you worked in a flower shop?” Bambam asks, incredulous. “They’ll probably be downright awful to us,”

Dowoon is about to caution on a few other people when the door opens again. Momo, who is likely early for her afternoon shift, as she and Jihyo, who usually works closing shifts and the occasional afternoon shift, walk in. “Ah,” Jihyo says as she sees Dowoon, “No wonder Jackson-oppa was so insistent we came over here, Dowoon-oppa is here,” Momo scuffs her feet and examines the floor.

Dowoon wasn’t sure why she was so embarrassed whenever they were in the same room, she was always bubbling full of energy with the other baristas when he saw them through the window. He had asked Jackson and Jimin about it once, but neither of them shared with him, only laughing and patting his back. 

Before anyone else says anything, the door is opening again, bringing in Nichkhun.

“Dowoon!” Nichkhun said he didn’t play favorites, but Dowoon is one of the youngest on the street, so there was a soft spot in Nichkhun’s heart for him, along with Momo and Jihyo. “Taec lost our round of rock-paper-scissors so he had to stay back and watch the store while I came and visited the new neighbors,” He looks at all the faces in the room, “Okay, well Momo and Jihyo are out, Dowoon too,” He sees Yugyeom, Bambam, and Nayeon and mutters, “Too young,” His eyes dart between Jaebum, Brian, and Sungjin, before he settles on Brian. “Nice to meet the new tenant,” He greets warmly, bowing slightly, “I’m Nichkhun, and I’m sure Dowoon has filled you in on the different businesses. Taecyeon and I run the bookstore on the other side of Wonpil’s shop,”

Brian returns the greeting, “I’m Brian, and Jaebum is my business partner for YoungSoul here,”

Nichkhun raises his eyebrows, “Partner?”

The two are quick to correct him, “Not like that. Purely business partners and platonic friends,”

Nayeon has hopped up onto the counter, “They are both hopelessly in love with other people and frankly too stupid to make any sort of move,”

“Hear, hear,” the trio on the couch call out while Jaebum is pulling Nayeon off the glass counter.

“Ah,” Nichkhun nods, “Taec and I wouldn’t judge either way. Minjun is locked up in his work right now, but when he’s not he’s always hanging around the shop and they’re gross,”

Dowoon tosses a pen at Nichkhun, “Like you and Wooyoung-hyung aren’t just as bad if not worse,”

“Hey, we may be worse in the outside public but at least we don’t make obvious innuendos and we keep it PG,” Nichkhun defends. He checks his phone, “Ah, Taec needs me back, there’s a rush,”

Just before he leaves, Bambam calls out, “We’re too gay in here so we don’t judge either,”

The last thing Nichkhun calls out sounds like words but Dowoon can’t decipher it. Bambam sits up and stares after Khun as he heads back to his shop, “He speaks Thai,”

“I think he grew up in Thailand,” Dowoon says, “He also speaks English, Mandarin, and Japanese I think. He sometimes helps at Hyelim-noona’s tutoring place,”

Momo nods, “Yeah, Sana, Mina, and I go to help with Japanese between classes and we’ve seen him there a few times,”

Jihyo looks around, “Well, you heard, Khunnie-oppa say our names, but I’m Park Jihyo and this is Hirai Momo. We work a few shifts at the café around classes,”

Brian kicks the introductions off, “I’m Kang Brian, I’m the primary owner of YoungSoul,” Jaebum smacks the back of his head, “Okay fine, we own equal shares,”

Jaebum snorts, “Im Jaebum, I’m the piercer here while hyung does the tattoos, though we can both do either,”

Nayeon smiles, “Im Nayeon. I don’t work here but Jaebum-oppa is my brother. I’m a fashion student,”

Bambam waves from his position on the couch with Yugyeom and Sungjin, “I’m Bambam, Jaebum-hyung’s apprentice for the next three years,”

Jaebum groans, “Oh god, is it really that long?”

“Kim Yugyeom, I’m Brian-hyung’s apprentice,”

Sungjin cranes his neck, “I don’t work here either I just came to see Brian but then we got distracted. Park Sungjin,”

Introductions are done, and Nayeon is trying to make conversation with the two new girls, seeing as her pleading wasn’t going to work on her brother or Brian.

After a while, the two excuse themselves, Jihyo has to work and Momo is going to Hyelim’s to study. Nayeon had ducked out not too long before, having a class that Jaebum refused to let her skip.

Once the door closed behind Momo and Jihyo and they were well enough away, Sungjin looks at Dowoon, “You know Momo has a crush on you, right?”

Dowoon does a doubletake, “She what now?”

Bambam falls to the floor from where he was lounging on Yugyeom’s lap, “You didn’t notice?!”

“You know that shouldn’t surprise us,” Jaebum adds.

Bambam sits for a moment before agreeing to Jaebum’s statement.

The rest of the day goes by rather quietly, slightly busier than the day before, but not overwhelming. Jackson stops by before he heads home. He sets up a time to get another piercing, he doesn’t tell Dowoon where though. Sungjin leaves not too long after Jackson swings by, something about needing to use his brain.

Dowoon is getting more and more comfortable in YoungSoul as the days pass. Before he knows it, they’ve been open a month and almost every business owner has been in to schedule something.

“We should have another get together,” Jaebum suggests a few days after Jimin got her tattoo, “All of our friends and your friends,” he says gesturing to Dowoon, “The girls can join us, too,”

“I’ll check with them, they usually don’t have much going on so I’m sure they’ll take you up on the offer,” Dowoon is already shooting a text to Yerin, Jimin wasn’t very helpful recently as she would only ask if Dowoon had said anything to Brian. 

Yerin responds within moments of reading the message in an affirmative for tonight. Probably sooner than Jaebum had wanted, but she and Mark didn’t have early shifts in the morning, so they wanted to take full advantage of it.

“Hyung,” Dowoon calls across the shop, “How’s tonight sound?”

Bambam looks up from the sterilization he’s doing, “Hyung’s busy tonight ignoring his feelings, but he can multitask pretty well,”

“Let’s be straight,” Jaebum starts.

“Good luck with that,” Dowoon interrupts.

“Listen, smartasses,” Jaebum starts again, “Feelings are really fucking confusing so I’m working it out for now. I can’t host tonight, but if the girls can or Mark and Jackson can or you and Wonpil, we should be able to tonight,”

Bambam and Dowoon are stunned. Jaebum had been denying his feelings for Jinyoung for as long as Dowoon had known him and from what he had gathered from Nayeon and Bambam, far longer than that.

“I’ll check with Mark, Yerin, and Wonpil and let you know,” Dowoon is already asking if they want to host or if Wonpil is okay with hosting.

Wonpil responds right away saying he doesn’t mind hosting but his little brother is going to come by in the next few days, which could mean tonight because neither of the brothers are reliable with these sort of dates.

Mark says Jackson hasn’t done laundry in a few weeks, so their place is gross and Yerin doesn’t trust Jackson not to steal Jamie, so Dowoon offers up their place, letting Wonpil know.

“You’re offering up the location, so alcohol and food is on the rest of us,” Jaebum ruffles Dowoon’s hair.

Jaebum sends out a message to the rest of the friend group of the shop, having Dowoon recite his address so everyone knows where they’re going. Bambam slides up next to him, “You know this is an excellent chance,”

Dowoon looks up from where he’s typing a message to Wonpil’s brother, “Hmm?”

“With Brian-hyung,” Jaebum says, not looking up from a reply he must be sending.

“No,” Dowoon shakes his head, “I don’t want to mess up our friendship if he doesn’t feel the same way,”

Bambam groans but doesn’t push it any further. The day finishes up rather quietly, Dowoon leaves slightly earlier, trying to get a head start on getting the apartment ready for hosting. Jimin was already back home, having opened for the café and already left a few hours ago.

Dowoon groans as he walks in, seeing a familiar pair of shoes next to their shoe rack. “Woojin-ah! Do you really need to let yourself in? Why can’t you just call hyung?”

A head pops around the doorway to the kitchen, “Hyung doesn’t answer his phone,” Woojin explains through a mouthful of whatever food he’s stealing now.

Dowoon looks into the kitchen and living room, neither all that messy but not entirely clean either, “We’re having a bunch of friends over tonight,” Woojin’s eyes light up, “You can stay if you do the dishes,”

“Hyung, I feel like you’re just using me as free labor,” he mutters, before starting on the few dishes there are.

“I’m not just gonna sit back while you clean if that’s what you think, I’m gonna be one room over cleaning,” Dowoon starts cleaning up what he’s pretty sure is Wonpil’s mess. Old mail gets thrown in the coffee table drawer and dirty laundry goes into the proper rooms until one of them finally caves into doing laundry. Usually Dowoon because of all the traces of pollen on Wonpil’s clothes.

Wonpil gets back just as Dowoon throws an empty water bottle across the hall at Woojin, “Stop complaining you little shit,”

“I’m just gonna ignore that,” Wonpil says, dropping his bag and kicking off his shoes.

“Hyung!” Woojin sticks his head into the main hall from the kitchen, “Dowoon-hyung is bullying me,”

Another empty bottle flies towards Woojin from the living room, “I’m asking you to help clean in exchange for letting you hang out tonight. And it’s not even a lot of cleaning,”

“Woojin-ah,” Wonpil says, “Want to know a secret?”

“Wonpil-hyung, I swear if this is the secret I think it is,”

“If Dowoon-hyung doesn’t want me to know then yes, I want to know a secret,” Woojin excitedly peers into the hall again.

“Finish the job Dowoon has assigned and I’ll tell you,” Wonpil tousles his hair as he walks past. Wonpil helps Dowoon pick up miscellaneous items that no one needs to see out in their living room while Woojin finishes with the dishes.

“Can you tell me now, hyung?” he pleads. Wonpil opens his mouth, ready to share when the door swings open, letting in Jackson, Mark, Jimin, and Yerin.

“Yeah, these people know already,” Dowoon has accepted nothing will stop Wonpil from sharing, “Our Dowoonie has the biggest crush on his boss. Like pretty much everyone but the man himself knows,”

Jimin and Yerin exchange looks, “Oh it is painful to watch,”

“It definitely goes both ways,” Jaebum says from the doorway, Bambam, Yugyeom, Youngjae and Jinyoung with him. The apprentices have a case of beer in each hand while Youngjae and Jaebum are carrying chicken.

“Brian-hyung said he would bring pizza,” Jinyoung explains, “I think he was working on something with Sungjin and Chan, so they might be a little late,”

Woojin is peering around the room, “Hyung, since when do you have these many friends?”

“Dowoon are you sure we have to let him stay?”

“Your brother, your call,”

“I mean, it’s been so long since I visited, I don’t know if I’ve met any of your friends,”

Wonpil nods, “Better,”

He pulls Woojin to his side, and just before he can introduce him, the apartment door opens once more, letting in Sungjin, Brian, and a third man who must be Chan, “Sorry we’re late,” Sungjin calls out, “Brian didn’t want to leave without making at least a little progress,”

“But you managed to get me out before that happened,” Brian mutters.

“Thank god or we’d never get here,” Chan says, narrowly managing to dodge the elbow Brian tries to throw at him.

“Just in time,” Wonpil calls out, “This is my baby brother, Kim Woojin,”

Woojin bows and introduces himself.

“I guess I should introduce my baby too,” Brian says. A faint protest is heard as Chan had taken the pizza from Brian and was working on setting stuff up in the kitchen with Woojin, Bambam and Yugyeom. “His name is Bang Chan, and he works on music with me and Sungjin,”

Chan makes an appearance again, formally introducing himself, “Hyung, please never call me your baby, like ever again,”

“You’re right, you’re too much of a dad to be my baby,” 

“Hey, Felix needed help and then suddenly Hyunjin and Minho from his dance team were an addition,” Chan seems to be trying to preserve some reputation.

“Doesn’t explain the proud dad smile every time he succeeds at something,” Brian retaliates.

“Let the boy live,” Sungjin smacks the back of Brian’s head, “I swear you’re the child in this family,”

Wonpil’s forehead crinkles, “Wait, Minho as in Junho-hyung’s younger brother Minho?”

Chan swivels his head so fast, Dowoon is afraid he might snap his neck, “You know Junho-hyung?”

“He owns a salon next to YoungSoul,” Dowoon explains.

With everyone arrived, conversation starts up again as people grab food and alcohol. Dowoon is taking a bite of pizza when Woojin slides up to him, “It’s Brian-hyung isn’t it?”

Dowoon almost wishes he choked on the pizza, but he manages to breathe around it, “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep your mouth shut,”

“I’m gonna tell Chan!” he calls out, backing away before he finishes his sentence.

“Woojin-ah, you little shit!”

Woojin has made it to the other side of the couch, doing a dance, trying to figure out which way Dowoon is going to chase him. Too bad for Woojin, it’s Dowoon’s shitty couch so he doesn’t hesitate in jumping the back to try and tackle him. Dowoon’s momentum takes the both of them to the floor, but it doesn’t last too long, Woojin is flipping him off his chest and getting away from Dowoon’s reach.

Wonpil helps Dowoon up, “How many times does he have to do that before you remember he trained in Taekwondo?”

Dowoon shoots a glare at Woojin where he is standing halfway across the room, “When will he stop being a little shit?” is all Dowoon responds with. He goes to the kitchen to grab another beer, not nearly drunk enough to deal with Woojin. He goes back to the living room and joins the conversation nearest to him.

Yerin is retelling a conversation she had with one of the male doctors she works with at the hospital as Dowoon walks in, “So he asks me, ‘Do male strippers mainly cater to straight women or gay men?’ I responded, ‘You’re asking the wrong person, I’m neither a gay man nor am I attracted to men,’ and that’s how I accidentally came out to the doctor that had a crush on me,”

Mark nudges her side, “Come on that isn’t even the best part,”

“Oh, you mean the part where he stopped talking to me for an entire month?” Yerin raises her eyebrows at Mark, “He couldn’t look me in the eye for a week and then he avoided me for three more,”

“He’s a dick, are you complaining?”

“Ah, right, my apologies,” she fakes offense, “I forgot he was completely disgusting when I first came on in his ward,”

The apartment is full of a dull roar for most of the evening. Jae shows up some time later, apologizing for being late while holding a bag full of soju. Dowoon isn’t sure when it happens, but he ends up in a drinking contest with Chan and Bambam while Yugyeom and Youngjae judge. Wonpil had pulled the vodka out from where ever he had been hoarding it, and then things started getting crazy.

Dowoon was glad that Yugyeom and Youngjae were nearby because he lost count after two beers, a bottle and a half of soju and three shots of vodka. The number of empty soju and beer bottles surrounding them tells him it’s been a while since then.

“Wonpil-hyung!” he calls out, not steady enough to stand up, “Hyung~”

Two Wonpil’s show up in front of Dowoon, swimming back and forth in his vision, “Yeah?”

“Can I play my baby? I miss them,”

Wonpil groans, “No, you would kill me if I so much as let you look at your drums drunk,”

“But hyung~” Dowoon knows his puppy dog eyes aren’t near as good as Wonpil’s but he’s too drunk at this point to care.

“No,” Wonpil remains firm, even though Jackson and Jimin are wavering in the background, “That’s final, you’ll thank me in the morning,”

After that, Dowoon doesn’t remember much more of the night. He wakes up in the morning on the floor of the living room, someone laying across his legs. He fumbles around for his phone to check the time. He squints against the bright screen, trying to get the numbers to stop dancing around. When they finally do, he reads 7:30. “Wonpil-hyung,” Dowoon rasps out, his mouth tasting like death.

“Yes, brat?” Wonpil’s voice calls out from somewhere else in the apartment, meaning it wasn’t him across Dowoon’s legs.

“It’s 7:30, don’t you have to open in half an hour?” Dowoon’s question is followed by silence, then a crash as something, probably Wonpil, hits the floor.

“Jinyoung-ah,” Wonpil looks around. “Jinyoung-ah we have to go open,”

Another groan is heard from a different position, followed by some mumbling that Dowoon can’t interpret.

“Jinyoung-ah, I hope you realize the amount of blackmail I have on you from last night alone,”

“And I’m getting up,” Jinyoung appears, almost running out the door, “Well, better get going so we can open on time,”

Dowoon looks on in confusion but decides that it isn’t worth trying to figure out, and drifts back to sleep.

His phone is ringing in his ear 50 minutes later. Groans echo around the room, waking more than just Dowoon up. He barely manages to catch the call before it goes to voicemail, “Hello?”

Wonpil’s voice on the other end if far too cheery for how hungover Dowoon is, “Morning! You guys open in 40 minutes and all five of you were blacked out so good luck,”

Before Dowoon can say anything, Wonpil has hung up. Dowoon struggles into sitting up, the world swimming and his stomach roiling, discovering the weight across his legs as Brian. Dowoon stands, the world spinning, and lowers Brian’s head to the floor. Before he can even attempt to wake anyone else up, he needs to be more awake himself. Weaving through the mess of limbs that is their living room floor, Dowoon goes to make coffee. As he waits for the coffee to finish brewing he stares blankly at the wall, regretting the amount he drank. Mark shuffles into the kitchen and Dowoon wordlessly hands him a mug. He pulls out a third mug and fills it with coffee as well, knowing Yerin won’t be too far behind Mark.

He’s right. It’s barely two minutes before Yerin walks into the kitchen. She looks far too good to be hungover and knowing her, she probably didn’t drink last night just so she could observe and collect blackmail.

Dowoon feels slightly better once his coffee is gone and after starting another pot brewing, he heads back to the living room to wake up the rest of YoungSoul’s employees.

He nudges at Bambam’s side with his foot, “Bambam, we have to open in half an hour,” He groans and swats at Dowoon’s foot, “You’re on the way to awake so good enough for me,” Dowoon looks at Yugyeom, who is blinking and trying to sit up with Youngjae attached to his side, “There’s coffee in the kitchen when you can get there,”

Jaebum is splayed out on the other side of the couch, “Jaebum-hyung,” No response. “Jaebum-hyung, if you don’t get up Bambam is gonna open shop without you,” Dowoon wasn’t expecting that to do much, but when Jaebum snaps awake he’s pleasantly surprised, “We have half an hour and there should be coffee in the kitchen,” Jaebum is groaning, curling up on himself.

Dowoon stalls for time by looking around the room before trying to wake Brian up. Jae and Sungjin seem to have been able to split the couch last night, Youngjae is still asleep and Yugyeom is still struggling to get up while Bambam is crawling somewhere, Chan and Woojin are laying rather close together, which Dowoon files for later. He can’t see Jimin or Jackson, regretting how crazy they were last night if the two had to open. He finally turns to Brian and, yep, still gay. He takes a deep breath before getting closer. “Hyung,” Dowoon crouches down to shake his shoulder.

“Wow, that’s some favoritism,” Dowoon panics, looking up at Woojin, “I never got to ask hyung confirmation of who it was but now I don’t need to,”

Dowoon glares at him, “Do you really want to do this when I have so much blackmail on you?”

Woojin pales, scrambling up to get away from Dowoon. Chan is blinking slowly, trying to wake up as Woojin returns to his side. “Brian-hyung, we have to open in half an hour. Jaebum-hyung and Yugyeom are going to open without you,” 

His statement doesn’t get any reaction, which doesn’t surprise Dowoon. Bambam groans, “Don’t ever let me drink again, I think I’m gonna be sick,”

“You puke on the floor you’re cleaning it up,” Dowoon calls out. Brian is groaning in front of Dowoon. He sits up easily, not looking even the slightest bit hungover. “Okay that’s not fair,” Dowoon mutters, remaining crouched on the floor.

“What’s not fair, Dowoonie?” Brian asks through a yawn. 

Dowoon blinks a few times, trying to comprehend what he just heard. It’s only when he realizes that Brian is looking at him expectantly that he answers, “You don’t even seem hungover at all,”

Brian smirks, “How do you know I drank? You blacked out pretty early on,”

“Wonpil-hyung said all five of us blacked out,”

“I’m just really good at covering up being hungover,” Brian says simply, standing. He holds out a hand for Dowoon.

“I’m just gonna sit here and regret my choices for a bit longer,” Dowoon says, “There should be coffee in the kitchen,”

Brian nods and heads to the kitchen. Dowoon buries his face in his hands, remaining crouched on the floor. “That was some gay panic right there,” Dowoon whips his head up, seeing Chan scooting across the floor closer to Dowoon. Woojin has disappeared, probably to get coffee or claim Wonpil’s bed.

“I’m just hungover,” Dowoon lies.

“Your ears were getting red, Woojin told me that’s your tell for when you’re embarrassed,”

“I’m gonna kill that kid,” Dowoon groans. “I have no idea what I did last night but Wonpil-hyung tells me I’m a clingy drunk that overshares,”

Chan ponders for a bit, “I mean I was pretty drunk, but I don’t think I blacked out. I think the most you did was try to get Wonpil-hyung to let you play your drums,” At Dowoon’s panicked look, he continues, “He wouldn’t let you. Something about you killing him if he let you even look at your drums while drunk,”

“Damn right I would,” Dowoon mutters. He looks to his phone, finding a message from Wonpil.

**I know all five of you are suffering but you open in 7 minutes and there’s no one here**

In his rush to stand up, Dowoon almost face plants back onto the ground, “Hyung, we’re gonna be late!” Jaebum and Brian both trip out of the kitchen, rushing to get out the door, Dowoon on their heels. “I don’t know if Woojin is staying but you know where the spare key is, Mark-hyung!” Bambam and Yugyeom aren’t in sight but Dowoon assumes they’ll be in later. Brian and Jaebum are straight up sprinting, and Dowoon tries, but the world starts spinning so he stops to lean on a wall.

Once the world rights itself, he continues to YoungSoul, at a much slower pace this time, knowing that the two of them can handle everything until he gets there.

It’s only 9:03 when he gets there, having run at less than a sprint. Jaebum is supporting himself on the outside wall, heaving to catch his breath. Brian is struggling to unlock the door. Dowoon nudges him out of the way, taking the key from him. Once the door is open, Dowoon steps in and holds it open for the other two. 

The two of them stumble in, Jaebum crouching down while Brian leans heavily on the counter.

“I’m guessing sprinting was a bad idea?” Dowoon flips the sign around and goes around turning on the lights. 

“I think I might vomit,” Jaebum groans, having fallen to the ground.

“Do we _really_ need to be open?” Brian asks.

Dowoon is booting up the computer, “I think there might be a few appointments,” It doesn’t take long and Dowoon immediately pulls up the appointment schedule for the day. “Looks like you both have booked afternoons,” Identical groans come from both men, “But your mornings are empty,”

Brian lifts himself off the counter, “I’m going to nap in my chair, don’t let Jaebum die,”

Jaebum is still groaning on the floor. “Please never let me drink again,”

The day was relatively quiet, Dowoon mostly sitting behind the register on his phone, occasionally looking up. There aren’t any walk-ins, the afternoon appointments are the only customers they have all day. Jinyoung comes by when Wonpil gives him a break. He takes one look at Jaebum before dragging him to his feet and into his back room.

He glances around, no one else in the room. He’s not entirely sure he actually saw that. Jinyoung walks back out, “He is such a light weight,”

“Hyung,” Dowoon says slowly, “Have you and Jaebum-hyung figured stuff out?”

Jinyoung’s cheeks tinge pink, “We’re…,” he pauses, looking for the right word, “talking,”

“How specific,” Dowoon mutters.

“At least we’re on the same page,” Jinyoung retorts, “Your crush thought you were straight and he still thinks you’re into girls,”

Before Dowoon can defend himself, Brian emerges, “When is my—Oh, hey, Jinyoung. When is my first appointment, Dowoon?”

“Looks like half an hour,” Dowoon says, purposefully avoiding looking at Jinyoung.

“Jaebum’s sleeping in his chair,” Jinyoung says, “I’ll probably be back later to check on him,” He waves as he leaves.

“Are they…dating?” Brian asks, looking between the front door and the door Jaebum is behind.

“Hyung said they were talking,” Dowoon responds, thinking about what Jinyoung told him.

Brian scowls slightly, “I guess that’s good,” he shakes his head, “When is Jaebum’s first appointment?”

“About 45 minutes,”

Brian nods, “When my appointment gets here, check on him,”

Brian’s appointment arrives and after getting Brian up front, Dowoon looks in on Jaebum. Everything about him looks miserable. “Jaebum-hyung,”

He groans in response.

“Your first appointment is in 15 minutes. I’m going to run across the street to get you water, but you need to be awake,”

He mumbles something that sounds like “working on it,” as Dowoon closes the door.

The afternoon seems to be over in a flash, and Dowoon waves to Jaebum and Brian as he leaves. Wonpil is just locking the door as Dowoon steps out the door, Jinyoung heading in his direction.

They head towards home, and find Woojin passed out on the couch, but everyone else seems to have returned to their own homes.

Wonpil starts gathering up some of the trash, “So about last night,”

“Thanks for not letting me touch my drums,” Dowoon interrupts.

“Yeah,” Wonpil says distracted, “Not where I was going with that,” He sets the trash in his hands in the kitchen, so he can dig his phone out of his pocket. “This is where I was going,”

He turns his phone so Dowoon can see the screen. A video is what greets Dowoon. The thumbnail shows chaos and once Dowoon starts it, that’s what the video shows. With as much as the recording is shaking and out of focus, Dowoon can only guess how drunk Wonpil was.

“How drunk were you when you recorded this?” Dowoon asks.

“Less than you,” Wonpil mutters in response. He shoves his phone into Dowoon’s hands, “Just watch it,”

He’s not sure what he’s supposed to be watching for, but once Brian drapes himself on Dowoon’s back and gives him a sloppy kiss on the cheek, Dowoon is pretty sure that’s what Wonpil wanted him to see.

He’s about to put the phone down when Wonpil yells at him, “That’s not it, keep watching,”

Dowoon’s stomach sinks as he keeps watching. Video him grins widely and turns his head towards Brian, “Hyung, you know I love you? Like so much,” Everyone in the video goes silent.

Jinyoung, who seems to be standing somewhere near Wonpil is the one to break the silence, “Is Dowoon gonna remember he said that?”

Wonpil’s voice comes from behind the camera, “Not a chance. Is Brian gonna remember what he did?”

“Yo, Brian!” Jinyoung calls.

“It’s Young K!” is the slurred response he gets.

“He’s gone, there’s no way,”

The video comes to a halt and Dowoon looks at Wonpil. “Hyung,” he starts, not entirely sure what he wants to say.

“Jinyoung is the only other one who remembers this, everyone else ended up blackout drunk,” Wonpil assures, “And he’s not going to share with anyone, so you can take your time to confess. Just know Brian-hyung feels the same towards you,”

Dowoon nods slowly and mulls the information over. The next few days at YoungSoul are awkward because Dowoon doesn’t know how to act.

About a week after the party, a text from an unknown number comes in to Dowoon’s phone, **Hey, hyung, it’s Chan. I was wondering if you would play drums for me for one of my tracks?**

Dowoon agrees and they set the date for the end of the week. Chan tells him that they could pick Dowoon up from YoungSoul after closing. The next few days are a blur and about half an hour before closing, Chan walks in, followed by two boys Dowoon hasn’t seen before.

“Hey, hyung!” Chan calls out, walking towards Dowoon. The two boys with Chan are both shorter than him. One has a glare on his face and the other has cheeks that look like they never lost the baby fat. “I work with these two to produce some tracks,” He gestures towards the two of them, “This is Changbin and Jisung,”

Brian emerges from the back room, gesturing the man he had been tattooing towards Dowoon. He waves to Chan and his friends, but ducks back into the room, likely to clean up. Dowoon rings the man out and waves him out the door. The trio goes to sit on the couch and Jisung is looking around excitedly, rambling on about nothing.

“You think Brian-hyung would give me a tattoo?” he asks no one in particular. 

“As long as you pay,” Chan and Dowoon say in unison. Changbin simply looks around the shop, examining the art that is up on the walls. 

Closing time is upon them and Dowoon is closing everything down as Brian and Jaebum are cleaning up their equipment. Dowoon finishes before the both of them, “I’m leaving now! See you tomorrow,” Similar sentiments are called back to him as the door closes behind him and the three younger boys.

“Lead the way,” Dowoon gestures, no matter how much he’s heard about Brian, Sungjin, and Chan writing music together, he has no idea where the studio is.

Jisung chatters the whole way there, talking about a track he was working on. He starts talking about his lyrics with Changbin, asking about flow and do the words he chose sound best. Chan slows down slightly to walk next to Dowoon and let the other two lead the way.

“Does Jisung ever stop talking?” he asks with a good-natured smile.

“When he’s sleeping,” Chan has the same sort of fond smile on his face that Jackson has with Dowoon.

“You’re doing the proud dad smile,” Dowoon points out. “And it’s nice to see someone with so much energy,”

“You should meet Felix, he’s got way more energy,” They arrive at the studio just as Sungjin is leaving. He nods to them, but hurries on his way.

Seeing Sungjin must have reminded Chan of his issue with Brian’s lyric writing, “I need you to confess to hyung,” Chan tells him. “Like there’s only so many sad songs I can take and hyung is fast approaching the limit,”

Dowoon splutters, “What? I don’t like Brian-hyung that way,”

“Who said I was talking about Brian-hyung?”

Changbin gives him a deadpan look from his position across the room, “Dude, if you want us to believe that you need to be subtler about staring at him. And I’ve only seen it for less than half an hour,”

Jisung throws himself across Dowoon’s lap, “You’re about as subtle as a brick to the face,”

“I came here to play drums for you, not be called out,” Dowoon mutters. Chan gestures into the recording booth, “Anything specific you want? Or should I just freestyle it?”

The three of them explain the feel of the track they’re producing and Dowoon goes off that. They aren’t in the studio for too long, but long enough that it’s starting to get dark when they leave.

“Let me know if you need more drums,” Dowoon calls, waving as he heads towards his part of the city. The trio call out their goodbyes as they head to the bus stop. 

He gets home and Wonpil and Woojin look out from the living room.

“Were you on a date?” are the first words out of Woojin’s mouth.

Wonpil smacks him over the head for Dowoon, “Hey, that’s not how a greeting goes,”

Woojin rolls his eyes, “Welcome back, hyung. Were you on a date?”

“I’ll take it,” Wonpil mutters.

Dowoon glares at both of them, “I was not. Chan and his producer friends needed drums for a track. I was at the studio with them,”

Wonpil’s face lights up, “Would those producer friends include a certain someone?”

“No. It was Chan and two kids, Changbin and Jisung,” Dowoon starts making instant ramen for himself. Wonpil opens his mouth, “I know, I’m still trying to figure shit out,”

“What’s to figure out? I told you what happened, seems pretty obvious,”

Woojin is looking between the two of them curiously.

Dowoon ignores him, “What are we watching?”

It’s some rerun of Running Man. After Dowoon finishes his ramen he makes up an excuse to go to bed. He lays in the dark, staring up towards ceiling. _Tomorrow._ He thinks, _I’ll make a move tomorrow._

His chance hits him in the face when he walks into YoungSoul in the morning. Brian is shirtless and Yugyeom is nowhere in sight. Brian has the stereo cranked loud enough that it covers the sound of the bell so Dowoon does what any reasonable person would do.

He lets the door close and runs to Sprout of Heaven.

“Welcome, how ca- Dowoon?” Jinyoung looks up from the register.

Wonpil comes out of the back. He takes one look at Dowoon and recognizes the Gay Panic™ immediately. “You get back over there and deal with this,”

“You can’t make me, hyung,” Dowoon’s nose is already itching, but if it means he doesn’t have to deal with a shirtless Brian, he’ll suck it up.

Wonpil checks the time, “It’s only 8:30. Jinyoung can you text Jaebum and YugBam to make sure they don’t come in yet? We are dealing with this today,”

Jinyoung had already pulled out his phone, “On it,” Dowoon and Wonpil are locked in a staring contest until Jinyoung speaks up again, “Bummie was gonna be late anyway and YugBam are perfectly happy to not be there early,”

“I’ll be back,” Wonpil grabs Dowoon’s arm and drags him out and back to the door to YoungSoul. Wonpil peers inside, “Okay, he’s facing away and—Oh, that makes sense,” He turns to Dowoon, “Your panic is valid, but I’m not putting up with pining any longer. Go and get your man,” He swings the door open and shoves Dowoon inside, “Good morning, Brian-hyung!” he yells over the music before pulling the door shut and sprinting back to his own business.

Brian turns the music down as he turns towards the door. Dowoon’s face is on fire and even in the low light he’s sure Brian can tell from across the shop. What surprises Dowoon is the fact that Brian’s face also goes bright red.

 _That can’t be right,_ Dowoon thinks.

They’re standing in silence until the shop phone rings. Dowoon automatically goes to answer it but before he can put it up to his ear, Wonpil’s voice is yelling, “Fucking talk to each other!”

Dowoon hangs the phone up but it’s already out there. Brian is pulling his shirt on as he walks over to join Dowoon at the counter. After a few more moments of awkward silence, Brian finally breaks the silence, “I guess I’m not the only one getting called out,”

Dowoon feels his phone buzz with an incoming message. **If you don’t talk to each other Jinyoung will send this to Brian.** Attached is the video from the night of the party. He lays his head on the counter and groans but steels himself to put it all out there.

“Here, I go,” Dowoon mutters to himself, “Hyung, I’ve had the biggest crush on you since I met you. You smiled, and my first thought was that you were gorgeous. I’ve crushed on enough straight guys that I had to remind myself that I didn’t know if you were gay,”

“Wait,” Brian interrupts, “So you aren’t dating Jimin?”

Dowoon blinks in surprise, “…no, Jimin and I are both very gay, so it wouldn’t work out. Also, Jimin and Yerin are dating,”

“You just seemed so close to her,” Brian explains, “You carried her home that first night after we met and then you walked her to work the next morning,”

Dowoon smiles, “You’ve seen the heels she wears, after all day on those she deserves a rest. And we always walk with the girls when it’s late. They’ve both almost been mugged so it just happened,”

“Ah,” Brian stares blankly at the wall, “I thought you and Jimin were dating, making you straight. I tried not to get jealous but if you ask Jinyoung or Jaebum they will both tell you how spectacularly I failed at that. Then that first morning when you walked out with a lip piercing,” Dowoon reaches towards his lip until he hears Jaebum’s voice scolding him in his head. “That’s when I knew it was over for me,”

“Jaebum-hyung told me that you really liked them and when he heard where I wanted it, he checked it wasn’t just because of my crush on you,”

“Wait, Bum knew about your crush?”

Dowoon nods, “Said he recognizes pining when he sees it after YugBam got together but before Youngjae joined,”

Brian’s phone buzzes, distracting him before he can respond. Dowoon peers at the message, seeing only the contact name before Brian dismisses the message.

“I need new friends,” Dowoon mutters, “That video from Jinyoung might be something you want to watch,” Brian looks at him curiously, “Wonpil-hyung sent it to me earlier and also showed it to me about a week and a half ago. How much do you remember from the party at my place?”

Brian blushes, “Not much after you asked Wonpil to let you play your drums,”

“And no one told you anything that happened?” At the shake of his head, Dowoon pulls his own phone out, “I remember about to the same point as you and Wonpil-hyung made me watch this the next day after work,”

He starts the video and Brian immediately groans, “I never believed Jae when he told me I was a clingy, affectionate drunk,”

“That’s not all,” Dowoon says, burying his face in his hands. He hears video him declare his love for Brian followed by the onlookers discussing how their memory would hold up.

The video stops and it’s not until Brian nudges his arm that Dowoon looks at him. “You meant it?”

“Every word,” Dowoon has stopped worrying, once he realized Brian wasn’t going to do anything drastic, a voice in his head sounding vaguely like Wonpil is lecturing him about the irrationality of his fears, everything was a lot less scary.

He looks to the clock, it’s only 8:45. “Can I kiss you?”

Dowoon can’t answer, he only nods. Brian cups his face and leans in. They are both hesitant at first. Brian’s lips are soft against Dowoon’s and his heart is racing.

Brian must read the look on Dowoon’s face, “Believe me, I’d love to spend all day doing that but YugBam are gonna be here soon and we have to open,” He squeezes Dowoon’s hand, “You want to come over after work and we can talk. I live alone so we don’t have to worry about eavesdroppers,”

“I’d like that,” Dowoon smiles and goes about his opening duties.

He’s just flipping the sign to open when the door comes flying at him. Bambam tumbles through the door frame, Yugyeom close on his heels. “Not late!” Bambam declares.

Brian snorts, “Next time you cut it this close, try not to kill Dowoon,” Brian frowns at the paper in his hand, “Hey how long have we been open?”

Bambam opens his mouth, probably to say something sarcastic, but Yugyeom elbows him before he says anything, answering the question himself, “It’s been almost 7 weeks,”

Brian nods but says nothing else. Bambam leans across the counter from Dowoon as Yugyeom and Brian look over sketches. Jaebum walks in about half an hour later while Brian is in a consultation with someone about a big piece. Yugyeom pulled the other stool up next to Dowoon and is working more on his sketches, making improvements with Brian’s advice. Bambam is sterilizing equipment, just for something to do. Jaebum raises an eyebrow at Dowoon, question hanging unasked.

Dowoon shrugs, not ready to explain to anyone what he doesn’t entirely know.

The day goes by quickly. Soon enough they are cleaning everything up and Dowoon drags his feet in his closing duties. Jaebum and YugBam give him strange looks but don’t say anything about it as they leave. Dowoon texts Wonpil about his plans, only to receive a reminder to practice safe sex.

He feels his ears heat up, “What’s up?” Brian asks suddenly.

“Nothing,” Dowoon locks his phone, hiding the message from Brian.

“I don’t believe you, but let’s go,” Brian locks the door behind them and they walk the opposite direction of Dowoon’s apartment. The walk is about the same length as Dowoon’s from his place and when they walk in, Brian rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “I wasn’t expecting company so it’s kind of a disaster,”

Dowoon waves him off, “Our apartment hasn’t been clean since before the party,”

The two of them sit in an awkward silence.

“This is ridiculous,” Brian says before kickstarting a conversation.

Dowoon realizes that they are really only passing friends with the amount of knowledge they have of each other. By the end of the night, they know each other’s favorite foods and celebrity crushes. Dowoon tells Brian how he got into playing drums and how he met Wonpil when he moved to Seoul. Brian talks about when he lived in Canada during high school and the band he started with a few friends there that got him into music production.

They don’t notice the time until Dowoon yawns mid-sentence causing Brian to look at his phone.

“Wow, I didn’t mean to keep you this late,” Dowoon checks his own phone to find it to be 10:30, as well as five messages from Wonpil and one from Woojin.

He checks Woojin’s message first. **If you’re moving in with Brian-hyung can I have your room here?**

He sends back a simple no before looking at Wonpil’s messages.

The first two messages came while they were walking from YoungSoul: **I’m kidding about that** and **kind of**

About an hour later: **Wrap it before you tap it**

The next message arrived about half an hour ago: **Are you coming back tonight? I didn’t think you the type to go all the way on the first night**

And the last one only arrived 7 minutes ago: **If you don’t respond I’m telling everyone what’s going on**

“I better get headed back,” Dowoon says, standing and stretching, “Before Wonpil gives himself an ulcer worrying,”

Brian hesitates, “Did you want to stay the night?”

Dowoon freezes.

“Not for that reason. I’ll give you the bed and take the couch if you want,” Brian hurriedly explains, “It’s just it’s so far to your apartment and it’s dark,”

“I just wasn’t expecting that,” Dowoon says, “And you don’t have to take the couch. We’re both pretty clingy drunks and I did wake up that morning with you across my legs,”

Dowoon texts Wonpil back, **I’m staying the night here. PURELY SLEEPING**

Wonpil’s response comes almost immediately, **I was ready to expose y’all but I’ll bring you clothes tomorrow**

After sending his thanks, Brian rejoins Dowoon and holds out sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt covered in English writing. “I figured you didn’t want to sleep in your jeans,”

Dowoon shucks off his jeans and steps into the sweatpants. He pulls his own shirt from the day off and replaces it with the t-shirt Brian had brought out. He’s swimming in both items, but they smell like Brian.

Brian leads Dowoon to his room, sitting down on the edge, “You’re sure you’re okay with this? I really don’t mind sleeping on the couch,” Brian starts rambling.

Dowoon reaches up and cups Brian’s face to bring him closer to kiss him. Brian stares at Dowoon, “I’m sure,”

They lay down and Brian wraps his arms around Dowoon’s middle, “Is this okay?”

Dowoon chuckles, “It’s fine,” he pulls Brian’s arms tighter, “Thank you for being so careful and asking,” he doesn’t hear what Brian says next, already halfway asleep.

Dowoon wakes up to a strange noise. It sounds like an alarm, but not his or Wonpil’s. Not even Woojin’s. He tries to sit up, only to be stopped by a pair of arms around his waist. Brian hadn’t shifted all night, keeping Dowoon in his arms. Dowoon isn’t sure what time it is, but he’s sure it’s fine if he goes back to sleep for a few minutes.

The alarm is sounding again, but this time Dowoon feels the arms around his waist leave him and the noise stops. He blinks slowly, trying to figure out where he is and what is going on. He sees Brian sitting next to him in bed, smiling down fondly.

“You’re really cute when you first wake up,” Brian brushes some of Dowoon’s hair back.

“And you look fully put together when you first wake up,” Dowoon mumbles back.

“Your eyes aren’t even open,”

“The morning after the party,” Dowoon tries to roll but is stopped by Brian’s legs on one side and the edge of the bed on the other. “You called me Dowoonie and Chan called me out on gay panic,”

Brian’s voice drops slightly, “Would you like me to call you Dowoonie all the time?”

Dowoon’s heart clenches as his ears flush, “Maybe…”

Brian leans down near Dowoon’s face, “You look so pretty right now, sleepy and soft in my clothes in my bed. I want nothing more than to call Jaebum and tell him to run it on his own today,” He connects their lips to make out languidly.

Dowoon tilts his head slightly to get a better angle. Dowoon only pulls back when he needs to take a breath. Brian connects their foreheads, “That damn full back tattoo,” he mumbles.

Dowoon sits up on the bed as Brian stands and begins changing out of the sweatpants and sweatshirt he is wearing. Dowoon shamelessly checks out Brian’s back between pulling the sweatshirt off and pulling his button up for the day on.

“Tonight, I want to hear about your tattoos,”

Brian freezes briefly, “I’ll gladly enlighten you,”

Dowoon puts his clothes from yesterday back on and they leave for YoungSoul.

“Do you want to tell them?” Brian asks about halfway there.

“Tell them what?”

“What we are?”

Dowoon pauses and thinks, “What are we?”

Brian raises his eyebrows, testing the waters, “Boyfriends?”

He bats the word around his head before nodding. “I like the sound of that,” he smiles to himself, “But let’s leave them hanging for a while,”

“Even Wonpil and Jinyoung?” Brian shoots Dowoon a look out of the corner of his eye. A smile splits his face and Brian almost misses what Dowoon said while he’s distracted by the smile.

“There’s not even a sliver of a chance to hide this from them even ten seconds,” Dowoon says, “Wonpil is bringing me clothes because I didn’t come home, that doesn’t really give me much of an option in telling him,”

The door to YoungSoul is still locked when they arrive. Dowoon kisses Brian on the cheek, “I’ll be right back. I have to grab my change of clothes from Wonpil,”

Brian has all but frozen as Dowoon heads into Sprout of Heaven. He gets the door unlocked and starts going through the motions for preparing to open. Dowoon returns, a messenger bag slung over his shoulder with fresh clothes.

“Wonpil and Jinyoung wanted far more details than I was sharing. Do you want something from the café?” he sets his bag on the stool, “I’m going to grab a coffee,” Brian tells Dowoon his coffee order and watches him run across the street.

An incoming message sets his phone buzzing in his hand. Jinyoung and Wonpil knew the most out of all their friends and Jinyoung was taking full advantage of that. **How much softer are you now that you’re in a relationship?**

Before he can respond, Dowoon is backing in to the store, a coffee in each hand as well as a pastry bag between his teeth. He holds out one of the coffees to Brian and once his hand is free he puts the other coffee and the pastry bag down. “I got scones too,” He grins, “I’m gonna change,”

Dowoon grabs the bag Wonpil had brought him, and almost skips into Brian’s work room. Once the door closes, Brian absentmindedly drinks his coffee as he tries not to think too much about the broad shoulders or toned arms he had seen last night when Dowoon was changing. The bell above the door jingles as Jaebum walks in.

He gives a small greeting before heading to set his stuff down. It’s only when he enters the main room that he notices the door to Brian’s work room is shut. Jaebum opens his mouth to bring it up but is stopped before he can start when Bambam and Yugyeom walk in. Dowoon opens the door at the same moment and three sets of eyes swivel between Brian and Dowoon.

Bambam breaks the silence, pointing at the clothes in Dowoon’s hand that he’s trying to shove into the bag, “You were wearing that yesterday,” he squints suspiciously, “You didn’t go home last night,” It’s not a question but a statement.

“Respect your elders, Bam,” Dowoon says simply, picking up his coffee and pulling one of the scones out of the bag, “Here you go, hyung,” Brian takes the pastry, ignoring the drama that Bambam is insistent on unfolding.

Bambam looks to Jaebum for help.

“Hyung,” Jaebum starts, trying a different method of approach. “What did you do last night?”

Brian winces, he’s never been great at lying on the spot and Jaebum knows it. Dowoon swoops in to save him, “You were telling me about that show you were watching, weren’t you hyung?”

“Yeah, I started another show that already finished airing,” Brian nods along.

“What show is it?” Yugyeom asks. Too late the two remember that Yugyeom is a drama buff, knowing and having watched almost every drama that has aired or is airing.

“I can’t remember what it’s called,” Brian fiddles with the sleeve on his coffee cup, “I think I fell asleep part way through the first episode,”

The three are eyeing them suspiciously, but without any outright proof of their suspicions. They go about their daily business and several times Dowoon catches himself before calling Brian “babe” or another term of endearment.

It’s about an hour before closing when Brian is the one who slips up. He had been working on the full back tattoo for the past 2 hours. When the client had come in to schedule it, she was aware that it would have to be in multiple sessions, today’s being the first of three sessions.

He emerges with the client and approaches Dowoon at the register. They charge the woman for today’s session and set up the next one. They smile at the client as she leaves. Brian turns his head towards Dowoon, not realizing he is closer to Dowoon than he’s been since they woke up this morning. They are locked in a brief staring contest until Brian breaches the distance and kisses Dowoon softly.

“Ha!” Bambam exclaims, startling Yugyeom where he is trying to decide on colors on his sketch.

Something clatters from whatever Jaebum is doing in his room. “What?” He stumbles out.

“I knew something went down with them,” Bambam announces proudly.

Dowoon drops his head to avoid looking anyone in the eyes while Brian chuckles. “Looks like we’re caught,” he mutters before tilting Dowoon’s face upwards and kissing him again, going deeper than the first kiss Bambam saw.

“Wait,” Dowoon looks at Brian happily, “That means I can do this now,” He stands next to Brian and slips a hand into his back pockets as he leans into his side.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Bambam announces, “If they’re gonna be gross I want them back to being oblivious,”

They all laugh, “We really are happy for you,” Jaebum says, smile splitting his entire face.

Brian pulls Dowoon even closer still. Dowoon isn’t sure he’s ever smiled so wide and even though it took a while for the two of them to figure their shit out, they have all the time in the world to catch up on lost time.

“What about you and Jinyoung-hyung?” Dowoon calls to Jaebum. The only response he receives is a middle finger as Jaebum returns to work, bringing more laughs out of the four of them.

The rest of their friend group is informed and that night after work, Brian and Dowoon walk to Dowoon’s apartment first, to drop off yesterday’s clothes and pick up a bag for tomorrow. Dowoon drops a quick kiss on Brian’s lips before leaving him in the living room. Wonpil and Woojin fake gag.

“Are you ever leaving?” Dowoon asks Woojin as he returns with a full overnight bag.

“Hyung,” Woojin fakes affront, “I can’t believe you don’t remember,”

Wonpil hits the back of his brother’s head, “We have enough drama queens without you being one too,” He looks towards Dowoon, “He’s starting school here in Seoul so he’s staying here until he finds his own apartment,”

Dowoon and Brian wave to Woojin and Wonpil as they head back towards YoungSoul to go to Brian’s apartment. His phone starts vibrating incessantly. When he pulls it out to check, he finds messages from Chan, Sungjin, and Changbin. All three of them are different levels of grateful that they won’t have to listen to more sad lyrics.

He chuckles and tucks himself into Brian’s side, “Sungjin-hyung, Chan, and Changbin are happy you won’t be writing any more songs with sad lyrics,”

Brian makes a face at him, “Who said I would be writing happy lyrics?”

Dowoon smiles, “Your emotions did,”

Brian concedes that point and he lets them into his apartment. Tonight, as opposed to the night before, there was no awkward silence. Only a brief comfortable one.

**Author's Note:**

> there will be a second (hopefully) shorter installment but we'll see when that gets done
> 
> i hope you enjoyed and you can find me on [my day6 blog](https://youngwoonstan.tumblr.com/) or on [my main blog](http://tigercallalily.tumblr.com/)


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